Celestial Bride
by Biter Raygun
Summary: On her 16th birthday, Mana is given a scholarship to True Cross Academy. She is the Senka, a special human born once every hundred years that can grant tremendous power to demons. Will Mephisto's true plans for her ever be clear?
1. Fukunuma Isn't Such a Lucky Name

**Woot~**

* * *

><p>Since I can remember, I've had the ability to see strange things... or rather, spirits.<p>

They follow me everywhere I go, pulling on my hair, tripping me, doing everything they could to taunt me and make me cry. When I was little I was considered a freak because I could see these things. Kids thought I was crazy, or that i was a traumatized child. No one believed be, not even my own parents. They thought it was all because of the over active imagination of a bullied child. Eventually, when I finally decided that no one was going to believe me, I told my parents that I was making it up because I wanted more friends and for people to think I was special. They thanked me for coming to my senses and sent me off.

Some parents, right?

But, you can't really blame them. Wouldn't you think the same thing if someone told you they were being bullied by ghosts? Anyway, over the years I just learned to ignore them, and decided it would be best if I never spoke about it to anyone. I still have troubles with these spirits tripping me and knocking me over every now and then, but I have learned to pass myself off as a klutz. Oh, how rude of me, I haven't introduced myself have I?

My name is Fukunuma Mana, and you would think that because part of my name means 'Lucky' that I would have a little more luck than I do.

But I don't.

Which sucks.

I am fifteen years old, going on sixteen tomorrow, and I am a sophomore in high school. I'm not all that popular, and my grades suck, and I have absolutely no talents. Well, I am artistic... but that's about it... But what do you care, you're just here for a story right?

Well, believe me, you're about to get one...

* * *

><p>"You alright, Senpai?" Emi asked with a blank expression as I tripped over my own feet and smacked my nose off of the pavement. Well shit, of course I'm not alright! I may as well have broken my damn nose!<p>

"Of course not! Owww!" She bent down in front of me, yanking my hand from my nose. I watched as her face paled slightly.

"Oh crap... We need to get you to the nurse... It's bleeding a lot..."

I paled and stared to spaz out. "Oh no! ah... how bad is it? I'm sure it's not that bad, right? What are we sitting around here for, we need to go before I die of blood loss and-"

I watched her face twist into a teasing smirk. "Dumbass. Your nose is fine, but your expression is priceless!" She fell over laughing while I examined my hand.

There was no blood.

I punched her on the head and glared at her.

"Don't scare me like that!"

"C'mon Senpai, I need to get my kicks somehow, right?"

"You're evil Emi!"

Emi was my best friend, and in the grade below me, a freshman. I hadn't met her until the middle of summer last year. She helped me up and picked up the books I was carrying to hand them to me. "You're always such a klutz. It's gotta be some kind of illness if you trip this often."

I glared back at the little green and red imp creature that was snickering at me and hopping from foot to foot. "Yeah... sorry..." The bell rang and we headed towards the school.

"By the way senpai, your birthday is tomorrow, right?" I grinned.

"That it is, Emi-chan!"

"So, what do you want for your birthday?"

I froze and looked away from her. "What, didn't you think about it?" I glared at her.

"Of course I did!"

"Okay then, what is it?"

She raised an eyebrow skeptically at me. I felt my tongue twisting.

"W-Well..." I couldn't tell her that I wanted to get rid of these creatures and this annoying ability for good. I hadn't even told her I could see spirits in the first place.

She smiled and spun to stand in front of me, causing me to stop. She took hold of my shoulders and grinned at me. "You want a boyfriend, don't you?" What the hell? I shoved her away in my embarrassment and looked away from her. "Guys just have to like you! You're really beautiful, and funny, and you're really smart!"

I straightened my uniform, the gaudy old-fashioned sailor suit, and made perfect eye contact with her. "Aside from my looks guys hate all that other stuff. They want someone stupid and easy. And need I remind you I'm a D average student? I'm not smart. And even if a decent guy exists at this school, they probably want someone who's athletic and super friendly, like you. For all I care everyone can kiss my ass. I don't need anyone but you."

She frowned and punched me in the shoulder before grabbing my wrist and dragging me into the school. "I'm sure a lot of guys like you for you, Senpai."

"Phah... well, thanks for trying to cheer me up anyway Emi-chan- OW! QUIT HITTING ME!"

* * *

><p>The school day came and went, but one thing was off about today. The ghosts were clinging to me more than usual today, practically dog piling me on my way home. I drug my feet as the heavy weight and feelings of bloodlust and despair overwhelmed me. I sat down on a bench that was sheltered by the little shack over it, indicating it as a bus stop. I slipped off my duffel bag and opened it up to pull out a water bottle.<p>

Big mistake.

The second I placed the aluminum canteen to my lips, one of the creatures reached out to smack it, soaking the front of my white uniform shirt. My head burned, and I hugged the duffel bag to my chest to hide my bra before swatting a few of the creatures away. More suddenly came and latched onto me, the disparity and bloodlust suddenly becoming stronger. I exhaled and fell sideways to lay down on the bench. "Seriously, this is enough to make a normal person commit suicide..." I frowned and hugged the duffel bag tighter. "Good thing I'm not a normal person, huh?"

"Yes! A very good thing indeed!"

My eyes shot open and I quickly looked up at the man hovering above me.

He was certainly odd looking...

He was adorned in a white top hat and outfit with a cape, a large pink polka dotted handkerchief stuck out of his coat collar. His hair was indigo, he had a small, pointy beard, large gleaming teeth, and most noticeable were his large, pointed ears. I took in his unusual appearance before sitting up and starring at him.

"I'm... sorry?"

The man grinned and took off his top hat to bow to me, the large curly cowlick that stuck out from his head tickling my bruised nose. "It certainly is an honor to meet you, Hime-chan~." I flushed and backed away from him.

"If you're some kind of pedophile, you better back off, I know how to kick ass!" I was worried he would call my bluff and attack me anyway, but instead, he shot up quickly, putting his hat back on and putting up his hands defensively.

"Of course not! Believe me, as cute as you are, I'd never do something like that!" I frowned at him.

"Well... thanks I guess..."

He regained his odd composure and grinned once more. "Milady, you see, I am here to offer you a way to escape these creatures that are following you around~." He reached over my head and swatted the creatures away, causing them to disappear. I starred around myself in amazement and stood up to look behind me, forgetting about the duffel bag and allowing it to drop to the ground.

"How did you-"

"Here's my card~"

He handed me a white index card with a picture of a cross on it. "True Cross academy... Johann Faust the fifth?" I eyed the little chibi version of himself on it with disdain.

"You see my dear, I am the head master of the famous True Cross Academy. My real name is Mephisto Phelles. I've heard of your little epidemic, and came to see it for myself. Now that I have confirmed it with my own eyes, I would like to offer you a way to keep these spirits at bay, and to live a normal life." I starred at the man, his emerald eyes leering.

"You've got to be joking... First off, who or what are you and how can you see these things too? Second, why would you want to help me? And how do you expect me to pay off going to an exclusive academy like this? This just sounds like a scam to me." He grinned and placed his hands on his hips, bending slightly at the torso to get in my face. Hadn't this guy ever heard of personal space?

"Your questions will be answered in due time. And you don't have to pay a cent. Consider this a scholarship." I starred back down at the card.

"A scholarship student... me? But... My grades are horrible and the only thing I have going for me are my artistic abilities, and even then it's not enough to get me by in life..." He grinned and pulled out a white parasol from under his cape and snapped it open.

"Your ability to see spirits is enough. You see, True Cross is not only a private school, it's also a school to train exorcists in the making."

I blinked in surprise. "Exorcists...? Like, priests and guys who exorcise demons from people...?"

"Well, that's one kind of exorcist, but it's more complex than that. If you would like, you can call to set up a tour and see if you like the school. But please respond as soon as possible. You don't have much time." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"As I said, joining the school would be in your best interest, Fukunuma Mana. That is, If you wish to continue living. Of course, it isn't a threat. It's a forewarning of what could happen to you if you choose not to."

I stopped him. "How do you know my name? Moreover, who I even am?"

He smiled. "Like I said I have heard things about you. Well, I best be going, I have a school to run, after all."

He spun around and began walking down the street, when he suddenly stopped. "Tomorrow is your sixteenth birthday, am I correct? Consider this your birthday present, Hime-chan." He glanced at me over his shoulder, his expression serious. I wanted to ask more questions, but knowing it would be impossible, I simply nodded.

"By the way, lace suits you~." He suddenly scaled the stone wall that lined the road and disappeared from my vision like some kind of parkour pro. But wait...

"Lace? What the he-" I suddenly remembered my soaked uniform and glanced down at my white embroidered bra. I howled, a mix of anger and shock. I picked up the canteen and chucked it as hard as I could over the wall.

"YOU PERVERT!"

BONK

The deep voice that howled in pain after ward told me I had hit my mark.

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><p>I had skipped dinner that night, too focused on examining the card and what this Mephisto guy had told me. Mom asked me if anything was wrong, but I didn't want a repeat of my childhood. So I just told her I would eat later. Here I am, lying on my bed, holding the card above my head and scanning over the number printed in italics. Mephisto could see them too, couldn't he? He offered me a real scholarship, to a private school no less. All because I can see spirits. It seemed too good to be true, but on the bright side, If I gave him a call and tell my folks about getting a scholarship to an all-exclusive school, they'd freak. And what do I have here to keep me from going?<p>

I love my mom and dad, but they were never all that supportive of me unless it benefited them in some way, and though I love Emi with all my heart and she's the best friend anyone could ask for, we could still talk and hang out every now and then, and it's not like I had any other friends.

My mind was made up.

I whipped out my cell phone and quickly dialed the number on the card, sitting up in my bed.

_"Moshi mosh~ You've reached Johann Faust the fifth~!"_

"Ah! Mephisto-san, I'd like to-"

_"I am unable to answer at the moment so please leave your name and number and I'll get back to you ASAP!"_

I frowned as I heard the beep. I took a deep breath and pushed it out. "Mephisto-san, this is Fukunuma Mana. I've decided to take you up on your offer and I would like to tour the school. Please call me back as soon you get this." I left my number and thanked him before hanging up and smiling.

"Maybe... this would be for the best..."

Oh, that's right.

I should go tell mom and dad.

I bolted down the steps and told my mom and dad about Mephisto, using his Johann Faust name just for safety, about the info he gave me and how I gave him a call and told him I'd love to tour the school. I don't think I'd ever seen them so ecstatic in my entire life.

"This is so wonderful honey! You're being accepted into the best school in Japan!" My mother hugged me with vigor.

"Not only that, but with their great academics and programs, your grades will shoot through the roof and you'll be accepted into ITT Tech for sure!" I glared at him lightly as he ruffled my hair.

My dad always had this dream of me becoming a law major and going to ITT Technical University in America like my big brother did. I would always fight with him over it, but since then I have learned to just smile and nod whenever he goes on a rant about it.

Of course, I wouldn't ever go to ITT Tech anyway.

But for now, It would make him happy and stay off my case.

"We have to have a celebration!" My mom's eyes brightened.

"That's right! Tomorrow after school we'll take you anywhere you want for your birthday! You can bring Emi-chan too if you like!" What the hell, were they even planning on doing anything for me tomorrow? Nonetheless, I smiled and put my hands up.

"It's fine, we don't need to do anything-"

"Of course we do!" I jumped and looked at my dad. "It's your sixteenth birthday after all!"

I nodded hesitantly. "Okay then. I want to go to the aquarium."

"Excellent choice honey!" I hugged and kissed them good night and went back to my room.

I flopped on my bed and picked up my pink phone to text Emi.

**:You're never gonna believe this, but I just got a scholarship to True Cross Academy. I'll fill you in on the details tomorrow. Good night:**

I shut off my phone and stuck it on my end table before slipping under the covers and shutting off the lamp next to me. I settled into sleep whilst looking at the moon out my window. Tomorrow would surely be interesting...

* * *

><p>"TRUE FRIGGIN CROSS ACADEMY?"<p>

Emi tackled me to the ground and was shaking me repeatedly. I shoved her off and brushed the dirt off my uniform. "Are you crazy Emi?"

She grinned maniacally. "No offense, but your grades totally suck and you're dirt poor! Why the hell would the head master come and invite you in person?"

"Oh so now I'm not smart, huh? I know who I'm going to next time I need guy advice and it sure as hell isn't you." I glared at her and stood up. "He said that he was interested in my abilities and believes that I would be better off at the academy."

She bounced around me. "I'll say! You should totally go for it! You'll never get a chance like this again!"

I grinned evilly and looked away from her whilst folding my arms over my chest. "Huh... so you're trying to get rid of me? And here I thought you'd be crying and begging for me to stay."

She laughed and threw and arm around my shoulder. "Of course I'm going to be sad... But think of it this way. You'll have a chance to start over and make new friends, and you won't hate everyone. This is a sucky school anyway, get out while you still can. You said yourself that everyone can kiss your ass, right?" She gave me a hug with the arm she still had around me.

"Thanks Emi-chan. And no matter what, we'll still hang out and talk every chance we get."

She nodded.

"Of course!"

* * *

><p>Everything started in Math.<p>

Of course, I was sleeping as usual, when something hit me in the head. I stirred awake and looked at the paper football that had the words 'Open me' on them. When I unfolded the paper I nearly squealed in shock.

'Hey Fukunuma-chan. I don't know if you know me, but I'm Yamaoka Jun. I'm sitting a row and two seats behind you. Meet me during lunch on the roof. There's something I'd like to talk to you about.'

I carefully looked behind me, and to my surprise, Yamaoka Jun-kun actually waved and smiled to me. I waved back sheepishly. Jun, the most handsome guy in the school as well as the captain of the baseball team, wanted to talk to me? Alone?

There had to be a catch to this...

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><p>Five minutes after I had made my way to the roof, Jun came up the stairs, smiling away. He was a good head taller than me, lean and tan with luxurious chestnut locks. He came over to stand next to me by the railing. I kept my gaze focused on the school grounds below, the oak trees scattered around, mixing horribly with the Sakura trees... Dammit, bad time to be an art critique.<p>

"So, do you know why I called you up here, Fukunuma-chan?" I looked away, trying not to show the growing annoyance on my face.

"To get my hopes up and make fun of me later?"

He jumped away from the railing quickly. "Wha... What? No, of course not! Why would you assume that?"

I looked over at his shocked face. "Because your idiot friends have done it to me enough times in the past. What makes you any different?" It wasn't just the baseball team. Guys from the tennis team and soccer team too. They would call me out after class, ask me out, shout, "Surprise!" and do something embarrassing to me, or their buddies would come out of no where and laugh at me for thinking I stood a chance with a sports star.

Jun shot up and put his hands up in his defense. "No! No no no! I wanted to tell you that... well..." He looked down, a slight pink color to his cheeks. I starred in surprise. "I... I think you're really pretty... And you're funny in class... You make jokes all the time, and though no one laughs at them, I always do because I think their funny and cute... and You're really smart, and know how to handle yourself..." I looked away from him.

"You're stupid, because if you knew me at all you'd know I'm not like that at all. Pretty? Maybe. Funny in class? I crack smart ass things to say because the teacher is annoying and can't teach to save his life. Cute? Hah, do I sound cute to you? I talk like a fucking yakuza half the time. Are you stupid or just stupidly love struck? I'm not smart, and my grades are horrible. But you're right about one thing. I know how to handle myself because I'm not gonna fall for some jock like you."

I turned on my heel to walk away, when I felt him grab my hand and immediately paused.

"And there's the other thing. You're steadfast and strong, and let people know what's on your mind..." He pulled my hand and turned me around to face him. I starred at our hands awkwardly. Okay... so maybe he was serious... Even though he was attractive and nice, I didn't have such feelings for him.

"I like you, Fukunuma-chan. I would like it if you would go on a date with me."

I analyzed his face. He was looking at me with half lidded eyes, his cheeks pink, and mouth set in a stern line. He was being sincere.

...

Well, what the hell am I supposed to do now?

"Look... You're really nice... and you must be pretty serious after a beat down like that... but even so I really don't-"

He tilted my chin up and smiled at me. I felt the embarrassment rising in my chest and tried to look away, but his grip wouldn't allow it. "Say yes and meet me back here after school, okay?" ... crap... I starred at him for a moment before nodding and looking away. He grinned and gave me a light hug. "That's great! I'll see you after school then, same place!" He placed a kiss to the top of my head, lingering for a moment, before hopping away down the stairs.

I ran to the stairwell and shouted down, "I swear to God if this is a prank, I'll kill you, Yamaoka!"

I fell against the wall beside the door and slid down to sit.

My heart was racing a mile a minute.

Maybe I didn't see Jun in that way, but that didn't mean that I wasn't eager to go on a date with him. A guy had never asked me out with such vigor, or with that much sincerity. It was too real. I smiled and hugged my knees to my chest.

This had to be the best birthday ever~

* * *

><p>I had told Emi about Jun's confession and she nearly suffocated me in a massive hug. For the last bit of school, all she talked about were date tips and how to stay bold. Though I already knew how to handle myself, I just nodded and let her talk, knowing it would satisfy her. Once school let out, we bid good bye and I went back into the class room to finish cleaning up, seeing it was my turn for duties. I had finished cleaning the chalk board so I wiped at my fore head and grinned at my handy work. "All done~ now to go home~"<p>

I took the bucket and sponge to the bathrooms and dumped out the water before squeezing out the sponge and heading back to put them away in the classroom closet. Once I had closed and locked the closet door, I heard a voice from behind me. No, not a voice... many small, squeaky ones...

_"That's her."_

_"She's the one."_

_"We must have her."_

_"Eternal youth and power!"_

I slowly turned around to look behind me and nearly screamed. There had to have been fifty of them. The green and red creatures who would always follow me around and trip me and torment me had multiplied ten fold. This time I could hear their voices. If I could just ignore them and make my way out of there without acknowledging them, I would be okay. But the second I took a step towards my bag, they all stuck to me, pulling my hair, scratching and biting me. They had never done this before, so why all of a sudden are they coming after me?

I quickly grabbed my bag and started running out of the classroom. The second I made my way to the stairs, a few of them grabbed onto my bags and caused me to trip, nearly causing me to smack my head off of them. My duffel bag went sailing to the floor below. I starred at it in horror and looked back at the imp-like creatures who were gnawing on my legs and back. It stung, and I could see the blood as their teeth sunk into me, like a pack of wolves attacking a hunk of lamb meat. "No... This isn't right... something is off..." I quickly stood and ran down the stairs to grab my bag, then running back up them to get on the roof.

* * *

><p>I slammed the door open and panted heavily, watching as Jun jumped in surprise. But something looked weird about him too. The little black creatures that I would see floating in the air around town occasionally, seemed to swarm around him without his realization. Was it because of me? I shrugged it off and smiled at him.<p>

"Are you alright, Fukunuma-chan? What happened?" My hair was a bit tousled and my clothes were wrinkled. Not to mention the cuts on my legs were still bleeding lightly.

"Oh, sorry, I fell down the steps on the way here! I didn't mean to make you wait so long..." He smiled and made his way over to me slowly.

"It's no trouble at all." I shifted and looked away from him. I suddenly wanted to run away again. Something about him was off, like the spirits in the classroom.

"Which reminds me, I have a present for you. It's your birthday today, isn't it?"

His happy-go-lucky tone suddenly became sinister. I looked up and backed away from him. A pair of horns were growing out of his head, and his teeth were razor sharp and jagged, jutting out between his lips.

I didn't know what had happened until it already occurred. The pain in my left cheek, the afternoon sky making its way into my vision, and the pain in my head as it bounced off the concrete. He had punched me and knocked me to the ground. I tried to get up, but he grabbed my neck, momentarily shocking me, and shoving me back down. I grabbed onto his arm, digging my nails into it, but it didn't have much of an effect. He grabbed my wrists suddenly and placed my hands on the ground.

I screamed.

He shoved a thick nail into each of my hands, pinning them into the concrete. I couldn't help but sob. The pain. Dear God the pain. I couldn't move my hands at all. Just sit there and cry, praying for anything to happen. Praying this was a terrible joke, praying that I would get out of it alive. He shoved a hand over my mouth. Biting him was useless. It was as if he couldn't feel it.

My sobs halted for a moment when he suddenly straddled me, hand making its way up my skirt. I screamed and thrashed around, trying to get him off of me, when he took his hand away from my mouth and slapped me across the face, on my swelling cheek. His eyes glowered in sick delight.

"Oh my sweet Hime-sama... I can't wait to taste your blood and devour your flesh... You were right to be cautious of me, though you should have stuck with your original plan and rejected me." He let out a strange laugh. His voice was no longer that of Jun's.

He flipped my skirt up, then gathered my shirt and pulled it up to shove the bottom half in my mouth, probably in case I tried to scream some more. With his free hand, he reached over to his zipper.

"Whatever power you have to offer, I'll take. With that said, I'll be devouring you as well."

I am going to die.

I am going to be violated and I'm going to die.

I let out a shrill shriek despite the shirt gag, hoping someone would come and save me, or at least discover my body and give this bastard the justice he deserved.

"Hey now, is that anyway to treat a woman of that caliber?"

My eyes shot open and I looked behind Jun to stare at the new comer. Jun had momentarily paused . I blinked tightly to clear my vision, hoping I wasn't seeing things. "Mephisto-san!" He tipped his hat and grinned back at me as if there wasn't an injured, traumatized girl about to be raped sitting in front of him. I envied his laid back attitude in that situation.

Jun spun around and glared at him.

"Fuck off! You had your chance to take her, I'm claiming the Senka as my own now!"

The what?

Mephisto sighed and took out his parasol, resting it over his shoulder.

"Come now Asmodeus-sama, you know as well as I do you won't be taking her today."

Jun growled and jumped off of me, turning to face my savior.

"Like hell I won't! I'll kill you for getting in my way! I don't care if you're one of that brat's spawns!"

Jun lunged at him at an inhuman speed, his hands tearing open to reveal claws. Mephisto pulled out his closed parasol and smacked Jun on the head with it as soon as he was within range. What amazed me was that he had hit him with so much strength that his face smashed into the concrete and left an imprint. He then used the hooked end to lift him by the collar and pulled a wine bottle out of his cloak, popping off the cork with his thumb and dumping the clear contents down Jun's throat. Jun choked on it, trying to spit it out even as Mephisto dropped him to his knees. His body erupted in steam, as if he were burning, and suddenly black smoke shot out of his mouth. The massive cloud vanished as soon as it had materialized, and Jun's body fell limp to the ground. Mephisto grinned at me.

"I got your message~."

I couldn't move. The shock from what I had just seen was so great, I had forgotten about my hands and already they were numb. Mephisto waltzed up to me, bending down and smiling at me.

"Well now, you look like you've been scared enough for one day! Let's get you out of this and cleaned up!"

He pushed down on the area around the wound, holding my hand in place as he gripped the nail. I watched with clouded eyes, all dried out from crying and exhausted from my screaming.

"This is going to hurt like hell... so I suggest you take this..."

He reached into his pocket and put a pink polka dotted hand kerchief, much like the one in his collar. He shoved the piece of cloth deep into my mouth, instructing me to bite down on it and to watch my tongue. I pulled my tongue back drowsily, before realizing what he was doing.

Before I could do anything, my vision suddenly became clear again, and I screamed behind the cloth.

The tears came back and burned my cheeks, already raw from the first round of pain. He moved onto my other hand, and I bit down hard on the cloth as he proceeded to rip that nail out as well. I didn't dare move my hands. I didn't want anymore pain. It was too much. Mephisto pulled the cloth out of my mouth and used the dry half to dab the saline and mucus from my face.

"This is the exact reason why I wanted you to enroll in True Cross Academy, and why you will be safer there. You are what is known as the Senka. The celestial bride. Once every hundred years a human like yourself is born. You have the ability to see spirits because of your blood. It's like an elixir of life to these creatures. Those who drink your blood will have their life prolonged. Those who eat your flesh will have eternal life. And those who sleep with you will be granted unimaginable power."

My head slumped forward. I didn't have the strength to do anything anymore. Everything that had occurred was too much. My head was so clouded over I could barely hear him speak to me.

"The 16th birthday is known as the awakening day. They day that the blood of the Senka truly awakens. Your life is in grave danger if you continue to stay here Hime-chan. Come to True Cross and the exorcists there will be able to protect you. You could even become an exorcist yourself and fend them off."

He pulled the cloth away and snapped his fingers in front of my face.

Bink.

I was suddenly awake again. I looked all around, forgetting momentarily where I was, before looking over at Mephisto. He raised an eyebrow.

"Are you even listening to me?"

I nodded slowly.

He sighed and pulled a first aid kit from his cloak.

"First we'll patch you up so you don't bleed every where and attract more demons. Then we'll take you to your parents and explain the situation."

I watched as he pulled out a small vile of some transparent pink liquid. He took off the lid, which doubled as a dropper and put two drops of the strange, potent material in my wounds. I watched in amazement as the tendons in my hands reconstructed themselves and the muscle healed over them. He turned my hands over and put an extra drop in my palms, effectively sealing the wounds. Whatever he had used on my hands had completely erased the damage, as If I had never been practically crucified to the concrete in the first place. Whatever that stuff was had healed over what the months of surgery I would have needed would have done. I flexed my hands and starred at them in wonder.

Suddenly I snorted and looked away, finally finding the strength to speak in the aftermath of the chaos.

"My parents never... My parents never believed me when I was younger... What makes you think... they'll believe me now? I've passed myself off... hic... as a klutz and a ding bat so that they wouldn't have to stress about the whole spirits thing."

I looked down and frowned.

He lightly took my chin in his hands and lifted my head to look him in the eyes. "Would you rather another way, if this is the case?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

He grinned and took my hand, wrapping it tightly in the bandages, causing me to wince. "Let's talk about it with your parents first. And if things turn out for the worst, I can erase their memories of the conversation and we can continue on to True Cross as if it had never taken place. And they wouldn't even have to know about your injuries or that you were attacked."

I thought about it a moment, then took a much needed breath of fresh air.

"...Sounds like a plan to me..."

"Very well then. As soon as I'm finished, we'll be off."

I frowned and nodded.

Mephisto had picked me up and jumped off of the roof of the school and we landed through the sunroof into the back of an old fashioned pink Cadillac-styled limousine. Needless to say I nearly pissed my pants.

We drove to my house without a word exchanged. He held the door for me as I got out, and walked with me to the front door. He rang the door bell, and my father answered.

"Can I help you? Oh my... Mana! What's wrong!"

He grabbed my shoulders and examined my face, which was still pretty blotchy from crying. Of course, my swollen cheek may have brought in some attention. I would imagine the scratches and bite marks on my face and arms didn't go unnoticed either... and the blood.

"What the hell happened to you? Who did this? I'll kill them!"

"D-Dad..."

Mephisto held out his hand.

"Hello there Fukunuma-san, I am Johann Faust the fifth, do you have a moment? I would like to discuss with you what has happened to your daughter and her scholarship to my school."

* * *

><p>Mephisto talked to my parents about what had happened. I had chosen to sit in my room and wait until he called me down. What would they say? Would they choose to believe it, or shoot me down again?<p>

"Hime-chan~! Please come down now~!"

I exhaled and slowly made my way down to the living room. My mom and dad looked pale as sheets, gripping each others hands tightly.

"...Mom... Dad..."

My dad looked up at me.

"So... What he's saying is true... a boy in your class played such a horrible prank on you?"

I blinked at them in surprise.

"Faust-san tells us that the baseball team boys would confess to you under false pretenses and play pranks on you... but who would have guessed they would do something like this...?"

My mom blinked away the tears that threatened to fall. I looked over at Mephisto who winked in response. He either erased their memories already or he chose to beef the story a little.

...Yeah, he beefed it.

"I think that It would be best if you went to live at the academy, for your own safety. We're so sorry that we allowed these things to happen sweetheart..." My father motioned for me to go to him, and sat me down between he and mom before turning to Mephisto.

"Tell me Faust-san. Why did you give my daughter this scholarship?"

Mephisto smiled and pulled his hat down slightly. "For her artistic skills. We at True Cross do admire the arts and believe that we can turn her into something great beyond our wildest dreams." There was a strange twinkle in his eyes, something willing me to believe that half of his statement held truth to it.

"Very well then... Whatever the case, please take care of our daughter." I smiled at my dad and gave him a light peck on the cheek.

"I promise you, this will be for the better. Mana-chan will become a great individual, more so that she already is. Thank you for your consideration." I hugged my parents and looked back at Mephisto. He was a pretty cool guy. I turned around and gave him a hug too, which seemed to catch him off guard.

"Thanks... Thanks so much..."

He grinned and pat my head before stepping aside towards the door. "I'll be back tomorrow to help you with your things Hime-chan. We'll get you set up in a dorm and you'll be moved there by tomorrow evening. I do hope you'll be okay with the sudden change of scenery. True Cross is a marvelous place. You'll fit in just fine." With that, he walked out.

And my life suddenly hit its turning point.

* * *

><p>"Well, everything has been moved to the girl's dormitories at the academy. All that's left is to get settled in and I'll be taking my tour of the school tomorrow. I will be officially starting after spring break."<p>

Mom and dad nodded, along with Emi, who came along to say goodbye to me. "You're leaving so suddenly now... And I can't believe that jerk Jun... Believe me, he's gonna get a fistful when I see him."

I flinched and waved my hand in dismissal. "Don't even worry about it! Just a prank gone wrong!" It wasn't Jun's fault, he was being possessed by a demon. And now that I thought about it, how the hell did Mephisto convince them that me getting my ass kicked was a prank?

Mephisto's chauffeur laid on the horn. I jumped and spun around. Mephisto stood holding the door open for me, his grin ever present. Emi shifted over to me, raising an eyebrow at the man before us.

"You sure about this guy? He seems kinda off to me..."

I smiled.

"Don't worry. He saved my life after all. He's a good guy... I think..." She sweat dropped and shrugged, giving me a tight hug.

"I'll see ya later. Keep texting me, when your hands are better that is, and tell me when you're available to hang out. We can visit each other too."

"Ah~! Which reminds me~!"

Mephisto danced up to Emi, who jumped and took a step back in return. He shoved a piece of plastic in her face. "This is a visitor's pass. It'll allow you access to the girl's dorm at the academy whenever you want to visit Mana-chan."

Her eyes widened. She took the pass and stared at it for a moment before grinning at him. "Thanks mister!" He nodded and glanced back at me.

"It's time we take our leave Hime-chan." I nodded and hugged my parents and Emi before hopping into the pink car and waving goodbye.

Mephisto got in the car and snapped his fingers, signaling the chauffeur to drive. "So, you and that girl are close, eh?"

"Emi-chan's my best friend. I've only known her for a year now, but we've always been there for each other." I smiled and looked down at my feet. "Thanks for giving her the visitor's pass. It puts my mind at ease knowing we wont lose touch."

He grinned. "Not at all~. Anything for you, Hime-chan. You are a special case after all~." I snorted and looked away.

"So, we will be arriving at the school in forty-five minutes. Wanna play a game?"

"Not really." I raised an eyebrow at him. He certainly was an odd one. He shrugged and turned to look out the window. "No matter. I myself will take a nap. Eins~ Zwei~ Drei~"

**POOF**

Suddenly in the place of Mephisto was a cute puppy with shaggy gray fur.

"What... the hell...?"

He waltzed up to me and laid down on my lap before letting his eyes droop closed. I knew something wasn't human about the guy, but I never imagined anything like this. No matter, if this guy was a demon, he didn't appear harmful. I placed a hand on his head before resting mine on the window and drifting off into sleep.

True Cross Academy, here I come.


	2. Cram School

**Here's chapter two! Thanks for all the reviews, I hope to see more! Also, there are sketches of mana on deviant art :3 my username is RachaelxThexStrange, if you want to look at them. Two of them that I drew were scenes from this chapter. If you're unfamiliar with deviantart, then PM me and I'll send you the link to my profile.**

**Oh yeah, And I got my hair cut for otakon today :3 I'm gonna be tyl!chrome from khr and Misa Amane from Death Note. As for the third day, I was supposd to be Yuuki from vampire knight, but there's no way I'm gonna get a costume in time . so now I'm going as Shura Kirigakure :D lmao. **

**You probably wanna just get on with the story, so here you are and enjoy!**

* * *

><p>I had gotten settled into the girl's dorms and taken the tour around the school. Everything about it was beautiful and incredible to behold. I had already fallen in love with it. Mephisto had been my tour guide, in his dog form of course. He took me all over the school, and it amazed me that we managed to cover such a large area in the course of one school day. He walked me back to the girl's dorm and asked me if the school was to my liking.<p>

"I can't believe I'm saying this... but I can't wait for classes to start! I'm really excited!" For the first time in my life I was actually looking forward to school. To someone who knew me well, it would be rather scary. To me, it seemed like a major revelation.

Mephisto nodded.

"Well, of course. It's the best school in all of Japan after all. Well then, be on your way and your tutoring will begin tomorrow. You won't be seeing me for a few days, tomorrow I will be attending the funeral of an old collegue, so I'll leave you in the hands of an excellent exorcist by the name of Neigauz."

A funeral, huh? I nodded solemnly. "Ah, I see. I'm sorry for your loss Mephisto-san." He turned around and shook his head. "Not to worry, he died a noble death, for the order and his son. He was indeed a good man." He began to trot off.

"Well then, have fun, and I'll see you in a few days!"

* * *

><p>Neigauz was indeed a pretty good tutor. I went to the library for my classes with him, and my grades were picking up in no-time. One on one studying definately kept me attentive and awake. It seemed that when I was, I understood everything perfectly. Note to self: get more sleep at night.<p>

I hadn't seen Mephisto since spring break started, and even though he said he would be back in a few days, I hadn't seen him in a week. He had probably gotten busy with other matters. No matter, I was doing just fine on my own. The night before school came back into session however, Mephisto had called me to his office.

"Forgive me for not telling you I had gotten back when I did, Hime-chan. I had my hands full with something in particular." I smiled and nodded. "Not at all Mephisto-san. Everything has been going great. My grades have really come through thanks to Neigauz-sensei, and I'm on good terms with some of the girls in the dorm." He nodded "Excellent, excellent. I'm glad everything is to your liking. Here, have a seat."

I sat in an armchair infront of his desk.

"Have you had any trouble with spirits or demons since moving on campus?" Now that I thought about it nothing bad had happened since the Jun incident. I hadn't seen any so-called coal tar and no one looked at me like I was a hunk of meat. Well, except for the occasional womanizer, but their intentions were pure compared to demons like Asmodeus.

"Amazingly, no. For once in my life I can honestly say things have been normal." He grinned.

"But as soon as you attend the cram school, things may not. You'll be going through exercises and training out in the open, where demons and spirits lurk. Therefore, I would like for you to keep this with you whenever you're out on an assignment, or leaving the academy."

He held out a small flask containing a four leaf clover on a pair of tongs. I raised an eyebrow as he glared at the flask with distain. "Um... something wrong...?" He glanced over at me and made a disgusted face, distancing the flask from himself further. "This is a charm that will keep the smaller, annoying spirits off of you and larger demons will be unable to harm you." Oh. It must have had some kind of weird effect on him. I took it from him and offered him a thanks.

I paused for a moment before looking up at him. "Mephisto-san. You're a demon too, aren't you? Are your only reasons for getting so close to me because I am this 'Senka'?" He sighed and set the tongs in a drawer before closing it and resting his cheek on his fist. "Well, Of course. But it's not that I have my own personal reasons for it...well... okay, I suppose I do... but I have no intensions of harming you or sleeping with you. Believe me, as appetizing as you are you're still too immature to handle me." He winked at me, a little pink sparkle shone in the corner of his eye. I sunk back in the seat, just a tad creeped out. I didn't even want to know what he meant by that.

He sat up, folding his hands together and resting his chin on them, eyeing me under his bangs with his ever present grin. "Also, I enjoy your company. You're amusing. Like a pet, almost." I glared at him and sprung up, slamming my hands down on the table. "I'm not some cutesy little show dog! Get serious already!" He put his hands up in an effort to calm me, before leaning over to push me back into the chair. "No, no. I mean it in an affectionate way, really, Hime-chan!" His grin this time didn't have a double meaning, neither was it menacing. It was genuine and joking. I relaxed in the chair.

He stood up and walked around the desk to stand infront of me, placing a hand ontop of my head. "You see, Hime-chan. Because of this, I only want you to fall into the proper hands." This annoyed me a little less than the pet comment, but it still annoyed me none the less. I raised an eyebrow and pulled my lips into a tight line. "And by proper hands you mean...?" He bent down so that he was eye level with me and ruffeled my hair, throwing it around my face. "I'm going to ensure that you become the bride of someone who will protect you and take care of you as you should be, Hime-chan. You'd be better suited to an exorcist."

I still didn't trust his tone and half of what he was saying. Why did everything this guy say have to be sketchy? Why couldn't I just ignore the double meanings and hidden plans and accept what was going on? Mephisto had saved my life, offered to protect and teach me, and offered me a scholarship to his all-exclusive private school. And all he asked in return was that I become an exorcist. I wanted to trust him, but his persona and obvious "I-know-something-you-don't" attitude wouldn't allow me. It made me over think and analyze every single detail.

I smacked his hand away, brushing my hair back into place. "So in other words you're playing match maker." He danced away and chuckled. "Haha, you could say that." I exhaled and slumped in the chair. "Look at the time... you'd better head back... Oh, and one more thing before you go..." I stood from the chair and waited for what he was going to say. He closed his eyes, and I took notice to his twitching brow. He looked seriously annoyed.

"Watch out for a man named Amaimon. He won't harm you, but I'm sure that he will be very persistant in making you his wife if he finds out you're here. If he ever shows up with a proposal, call me immediately. I will be sure to deal with him." I tilted my head and raised an eyebrow. "Um... you okay?" He looked up and beamed as if nothing had been said. I really did envy his laid back nature sometimes. "Well then, Hime-chan, I bid you adue. Good night, and have fun on your first day tomorrow~."

"H-Hold it, I asked you a questio-"

"Eins~ Zwei~ Drei~!"

He snapped his fingers and a large, pink polkadotted box appeared. The lid suddenly shot off, hitting the roof and revealing a giant, spring-loaded Mephisto puppet with a large boxing glove. I took a step back.

"Wait, hang on a se-"

POW

The puppet suddenly pulled back with the over-sized glove and hit me so hard, I flew through the doors and out the hallway window, into the court yard.

Slowly recovering from the shock, I glared at the broken window I had shot from and had a total rage quit as I hit a sakura tree, not even bothering to try to stop myself. The back of my uniform caught on one of the branches, and all I could do was fume in silence while that psychopath stood laughing at me in the corridor.

* * *

><p>The next day, school went by in a breeze. With all the studying I did with Neigauz-sensei, I understood my work clearly and perfectly. I was even eager enough to ask the algebra teacher for more practice problems to do in my spare time. That was definately a first. And to top it off, I did them all correctly!<p>

Once I had realized that school was over, I was amazed. It had gone by so fast. I could really get used to this~. Now it was time to make my way to the cram school, but first I had to meet Mephisto behind the school to take me there. I met up with him under the Sakura tree he had launched me into earlier, whilst he had taken the liberty to perch himself ontop of a lamp post.

He jumped down upon spotting me and took his hat off to bow to me. "You know... you don't have to bow whenever you see me... It's kinda awkward..." He grinned crookedly. "You are the one and only Senka though. I am honored to have you in my presence, and since I refuse to stoop so low as to take advantage of you power, atleast allow me the pleasure of greeting you properly whenever we meet." I glared at him over my nose. "Are you mocking me?" He pat my head again, beaming like a crocodile who had found his next meal. "Yup~!"

He spun on his heels and pointed out into the distance.

"Now then! Let's get started!"

He jumped over the railing of the bridge we were on and landed on the ground below, where the garden shed was located. I jumped after him, allowing him to catch me and set me down.

"You see this, Hime-chan?" He held up a golden skeleton key. "Um... yes?" He twirled it on his finger and "There are many keys like this which staff carry around the school. They're sort of like portals that can take you anywhere in the academy. This particular key here takes you to the cram school located under ground." He handed me the key, and I stared at it in awe. "Unlock the shed with it and watch what happens!" I blinked at him. "Are you sure this'll work?" He nodded once and pushed me forward lightly.

I carefully turned to the shed, put the key in and twisted it. When I pulled it out, Mephisto took hold of the handle and opened the door.

It was so surreal.

The shed opened to reveal a vast hallway filled with doors gallore. It was like some sort of victoiran/retro wonderland. I blinked in suprise and barged in, staring all around at my surroundings. I couldn't help it. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Mephisto cleared his throat and poked me in the back of the head with his parasol. I held the back of my head and turned to blink at him. "You know... In this enviroment, you look like a real Alice in Wonderland..." I grinned and spun around on my heel with my arms outstretched. "I feel like Alice, believe it or not! This is sooooo cool!"

I danced about the hallways, admiring the strange architecture of the walls and doors. "I'm glad you think so. Follow me, I'll take you to your classroom." He began walking down the hall and I quickly followed him, still dancing in circles and observing every last detail. "You seem to enjoy this particular area." He raised an eyebrow at me with a smirk adorning his features. "It's like something out of a story book! It's absolutely amazing! As an artist I must say, I really admire the bizare design of the cram school!" He smirked and rubbed underneath his nose. "Well, all the palnning was done by yours truly... It's nice to know someone appreciates my taste~."

I smiled at him.

"Of course!"

He suddenly stopped at a door, causing me to bump into him. "Now, Hime-chan. This is your classroom. Remember it so that you don't get lost next time you come here." I nodded firmly, focused on making a good impression with my new classmates. "Good. Eins~ Zwei~ Drei~." He poofed back into his dog form and jumped into my arms. I glared at him lightly. "Onward, Hime-chan." I flicked him behind the ear. "Oi, I'm not your transport, doggie." I sighed and shook off the annoyance, reaching out to open the door.

I took a step into the room and shut the door behind me before looking around the room bashfully. Eight students occupied the large room. The ones sitting closest to me all looked like freshman. The three in the back corner looked somewhat familiar. They must have been sophomores like me. I turned towards the front of the room and jumped slightly at the boy behind the desk. He was very tall, but he had to have been only a teenager. He turned to me with a smile, and I felt myself fidgeting under his gaze. Something about him seemed mature and wise, far more than any teenager I had met.

"Ah, hello there. You must be the new student. It's a pleasure to meet you. Why don't you introduce yourself to the rest of the class?" It took me a few minutes to register what he had said. I straightened my back immediately, going rigid from not responding sooner. I must have looked like an idiot.

"Oh, um... Please excuse me... Are you the sensei?" He nodded and offered a polite smile. "My name is Okumura Yukio. I am the same age as you, but I have been an exorcist for a few years now, and am liscenced to teach." I nodded and looked out to the rest of the students, bowing slowly. "Hello there. My name is Fukunuma Mana. I hope we all get along..." I felt my cheeks warming. This was so annoying. Being center of attention was not my forte.

I looked down at Mephisto in my arms and scowled at his face. Even though he was in his puppy form, he appeared to be smirking. "Well now, who knew Hime-chan could be so polite~. You should show this side of you more often. It suits your appearance more than the real you."

"Shut up before I turn you into dog food." I stormed over to a random table on the other side of the room and plopped down, tossing Mephisto onto the chair beside me. He barked lightly at me, glaring at me out the corner of his eye. I rolled my eyes and slumped in my chair, my face still burning from my introduction. Mabey it was just paranoia, but it felt like I was being watched...

"Mephisto?"

What the hell? I jumped up and looked around the room. Who had noticed Mephisto? So others knew about his puppy form? My gaze finally settled on a boy on the other side of the room, who was starring intently at the schnauser who had climbed ontop of the desk. I found myself starring at him for a bit before composing myself and looking down at Mephisto. He certainly was eye catching. The boy, I mean. He had midnight hair and sapphire eyes, and his ears were slightly pointed. Odd... I wonder if he were biracial... I had heard somewhere before that the irish had pointy ears... no wait, that was lepprechauns... wait... what the hell am I talking about...

I had turned away to sort my thoughts out, and when I had turned back, he was looking at me. Or rather, starring. No, even that wasn't the right word... he was oggling. As if something were wrong with me. I scanned my clothing for any dirt or mud and wiped at my face. No, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary...

I looked back at him out the corner of my eye, and he was still spaced out in my direction. Okay, this was getting creepy...

"Now then, everyone please turn to page 10 in your books and read."

I turned towards Okumura-sensei and looked around before raising my hand sheepishly. He looked up and chuckled. "Oh, forgive me, I forgot to get out a book for you. You'll have to share with someone for today... Suguro-kun, would you mind comming up here and sharing your book with Fukunuma-san?"

I heard a chair move, and a deep voice say, "Sure thing, sensei." I twiddled my thumbs in my lap and watched what appeared to be the leader of those sophomore guys take a seat next to me. He set his book between the two of us and flipped it open to the correct page. I starred down at it awkwardly.

"Hey."

I jumped and starred up at him in fear. The fact that he looked like a leader of the yakuza didn't help the fact that he was seriously intimidating me. He raised an eyebrow, making his scary appearance seem sort of humorous. "You okay?" I slowly sat up and nodded. "Y-Yeah. No offense but you're kinda scary lookin'." His eyes suddenly grew wide for a moment before he suddenly grinned. "Haha, I won't hurt ya. I'm harmless!" He elbowed me playfully in the arm, and though I had relaxed quite a bit I couldn't help but wince and rub my arm, laughing along with him sheepishly.

"So anyway, the name's Suguro Ryuuji. I'm a decent guy, so no worries. And if you stick with me you might be almost as knowledgable as I am~." He crossed his arms and an air of arrogance seemed to cloud around him. I snorted. "Right. Knowledgable? How so? Lookin' like that I doubt you'd be much brighter than me." He frowned and glared at me lightly. "Oi. Looks can be deceiving. I happen to be top of the class. 'Get straight A's all the time." I blinked in surprise. There's no way. This kid had to have been lying.

He cleared his throat and scooted closer, pointing at the chapter we opened to. "We're learning about demons and their fatal verses. You familiar with them?" I blinked. "Erm... Demons are fairly new to me... and... fatal verses...?" He starred at me like I was some sort of alien. I felt my cheeks warm under his stare and glared at him. "What? Am I supposed to know?" He scratched he side of his face. "Erm... well, it would definately help... hang on a sec..." He turned to Okumura-sensei. "Yo, sensei. Is it okay to go through some basics with her real quick? I already know the material." Sensei nodded once. "That's fine. As long as you know it."

Sensei approached Mephisto who was sitting in the aisle on the opposite side of me. "You brought this girl here and didn't bother to breif her on the basics?" he was whispering to the small dog. I guess no one knew it was the principal other than Okumura-sensei and that weird kid who... why the hell is he still starring at me!

Mephisto barked slightly and glared at Sensei. "Of course not! She knows what she is and was attacked by a possessed human three weeks ago! I've breifed her on demons and what they could do to her, but the basics I assumed you would be teaching her." I sighed and picked up the text book to stare at the cover. Suguro looked at me. "So this will tell me all I need to know about demons, right?" Okumura-sensei turned back to me. "Yes, I would rather you learn along with the class, but you have missed alot in the last three days..." I grinned. "No problem! If you tell me what chapters I need to look at, I'll read up on them and be caught up in no time! Plus, I gut Suguro-kun here to help me out, so it'll be easy!" He raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure? For someone who is new to suddenly dive in could be a bit difficult..." I gave him a thumbs up. "It'll be no trouble for me Okumura-Sensei! I'll be caught up by tomorrow, I promise!" He paused for a moment before telling me to pull out my note book and assigning me the chapters to read. "I'm counting on you, Fukunuma-san." I saluted him. "No problemo!"

I watched him walk passed me to the back of the room. I slammed my head down on the desk. Suguro jumped. "F-Fukunuma-san!" What the hell did I think I was doing! One night! Where the hell did that even come from! How the hell was I supposed to finish ten chapters in one night by myself! I couldn't study on my own, I was horrible at it! I felt a strong hand on my shoulder and slwoly turned my head to look at Suguro, who looked a little freaked out by my depressing aura.

"Y-Y'know... I'll help you out with this. You don't have to do it on your own. Why don't we go through chapters one through five now, and tomorrow during lunch I'll review it with you and go over chapters six through ten?" I sat up immediately and blinked sheepishly at him. "You'd really do that for me?" His cheeks pinkened slightly as he scratched his face. "W-Well I can't let you bring the class average down, even though you're new. And you seem like you need help so..." I grinned and nodded. "Okay then! Let's get started!" He gawked at me. "Y-Ya mean it!" "Of course! I'm gonna need all the help I can get!

Suguro's expression softened. He beamed and pulled out two head bands, giving one to me to keep my bangs back.

"Okay then! Let's get started!"

* * *

><p>After class, Mephisto hopped up on the desk as I was putting my stuff away. Amognst my notebook and writing utensils, was a text book that sensei had salvaged for me. "Are you sure you can pull it off in one night, Hime-chan?" I shook my head.<p>

"Nope. But Suguro-kun said he'd help me, and I have confidence in his abilities. I want to know more about exorcists and demons so that I can decide whether or not this path is the one for me. My original plans were to become a free lance artist, but that wouldn't get me very far. I figure the salary of an exorcist would be worth while, and who knows? I may come to like it. I know I'm in more danger than most though, being the Senka and all, but I also want to know how I can protect myself if the situation ever gets too bad."

He tilted his head at me.

"I don't want to have to rely on others and be a burden, and I don't want to be locked away at True Cross for the rest of my life. I want to live as normal a life as possible, without having to worry about demons comming after me to eat me or rape me. That would be a problem and a burden."

He sat down and glanced up at me, a twinkle in his eye. "Hmph. With that attitude I have no doubts about my earlier decision." I paused in putting my books away and raised an eyebrow. "What's that?" He turned to face me. "Of giving you the scholarship. It was indeed an excellent choice." I grinned at him and pet his head. "Aw~ You're so cute when you're sincere!" He growled lightly and snapped at my hand, but I pulled away in time.

I stood up and put the book in my bag and slung it over my shoulder, when I noticed someone had stopped to stand next to me. I looked up at Suguro, who smiled at me in turn. "Y'know, you caught on pretty quick to all of this. Normally it would be pretty difficult for a new commer to catch on as quick as you did." I scratched the back of my head and grinned at him. "To be honest I'm a little surprised myself. It's actually pretty easy to understand if you keep an open mind..." He chuckled. "I think you've got potential. So... can I ask a question?" I nodded. "Sure, why not?" He scratched his nose and looked away. "Well... why do you want to become an exorcist...?"

I remembered something Mephisto told me.

"It wouldn't be very good if the whole school knew you were the Senka, so let's keep it between you and I, okay, Hime-chan?"

I shook my head and looked down. "You see... erm... I kinda made a deal with someone. I promised them that in exchange for their help I would become an exorcist and learn to help and protect others... I know it's nothing to really brag about... but becomming an exorcist would really mean alot to me for these reasons." I grinned up and him and scratched the back of my head sheepishly. Well, it wasn't a total lie. I did want to protect Emi and my parents if demons decided to use them to get to me.

He looked away from me and scratched his nose. "Y'know... If you ever need help with tutoring or anything, I'd be glad to help... seeing as you're so interested in the cram school and all..." I starred at him in disbelief. "Wait... what's the catch?" He jumped and put his hands up. "Jeeze, can't I do anything nice without you thinking I have some ulterior motive? " I grinned up at him. "Of course not!" He pouted and looked away to glare at the wall.

"And anyway... don't be afraid to ask me for help if you ever need it. You're also welcome to sit with my friends and I. Erm, th-that is, if you want to." He put his hands up, seeming a bit shocked by what he just said. I laughed. He was funny. "I may just take you up on that offer. Thank you, Suguro-kun." He scuffed the floor with his shoe and took a step back.

"So... how much do you know so far?" I shrugged and walked with him out of the classroom, discussing things such as masho, coal tar, and fatal verses. Everything he had to say was interesting, and taught me something that wasn't defined in the text books or lessons. He was oddly studious for a rebel. He walked me to a door and put in a skeleton key of his own before glancing back at me.

"Will you be okay heading back on your own, Fukunuma?" I nodded. "Yeah! No problem! I had fun talking with you, Suguro-kun... Alot of fun..." I starred down at the ground, eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. I wasn't used to being so open with someone. So why was I so open with Suguro? Maybe it's because we were similar in some ways, and because of his odd demeanor. I had to say, he definately was interesting enough. Maybe it was just my curiosity getting the better of me.

His cheeks flushed as he scratched the back of his head. "Me too... Fukunuma... san..." I scrunched my nose. "Bleh. Just call me Mana. I'm not used to the formalities." He jumped. "Y-You mean... well... are you sure? I don't wanna be rude and adress you too casually-" I grinned. "I like you, Suguro-kun. You're sensible and easy to get along with. If we're gonna be friends then you need to start adressing me as such." I put my hands on my hips and grinned up at him. His ears blazed red and his eyes were wide, but I tried not to dwell on it too much. "O-Okay... Mana-san..."

We took a walk down the hallway. He put the key in a large green door and opened it, revealing a neatly kept bedroom. For a boy, he was very organized. I wonder if he had any roommates... there was no way he could keep it this clean... I shook my head. "Um.. anyway, It was nice talking to you, Suguro-kun. I'll see you tomorrow?" He nodded and smiled. "Yeah... you too. Oh, and don't forget my offer." I laughed. "Of course."

He beamed and hopped into the room before shutting the door behind him. I turned around and started walking in the opposite direction. "Time to get back to my room..." I took a look around the hallway.

Wait.

Where the hell am I?

I spun around in every direction, hoping to find some sort of familiar door or direction. Then again, these were wonderland hallways. Who's to say I wouldn't go through the wrong door and wound up getting stuck in an eternal tea party with the Mad Hatter. Oh wait. Technically I was already in an eternal tea party with Mad Hatter Mephisto. Dammit Mana, this is no time to be making jokes!

I fell to my knees, clutching my head and messing up my hair in frustration. "I'm lost... I only have a key for the classroom, what the hell am I supposed to do?" I felt something warm and wet on my hand and let out a shreik. It seemed my little doggie guide had found me. Mephisto, still in doggie form suddenly poofed back to normal and tottered over a bit. I stood quickly and rushed up to him, grabbing his arm and jerking him upright. This was definately out of character for him.

Suddenly I felt him grab my arms and slam me against the wall. My back stung from the impact, and I looked up at him in fear. Surprise shone in his eyes as much as they did in mine. He loosened his grip on my arms and brushed me off. He seemed uneasy. Momentarily forgetting about him, I held my chest in an attempt to calm my racing heart. That definately scared the shit out of me.

"What... What was that?" I had to swallow back my shallow breath. He frowned and adjusted his hat. "Ah... I forget that you're the Senka sometimes... I have to remember not to do that... I don't think I'd be able to hold back if I did it again... Please forgive me." He gripped the bridge of his nose between his eyes and stood stiff for a moment. I raised an eyebrow, reaching out to him. "Mephisto-san...?" He pulled his hand away and grinned before taking a step away from me. I swear to god this guy was bipolar.

"Now then, you were despairing over being lost, correct?" That wasn't weird or anything... I swear to god this guy was bipolar. But, whatever. I frowned and nodded. "You turn the key to the right to enter the classroom. You turn it to the left to open a portal to your dorm room." I sat up and glared at the floor. "You're shitting me."

"Nope~."

I felt the anger pulsating against my temples. I was gonna have a headache later. "And you couldn't tell me this earlier?" He hugged himself and spun once on his heel. "I didn't want to interrupt your blossoming romance with Suguro-kun~." I put my face in my hands and resisted the urge to slap him. Romance my ass, this weirdo...

"Alright... I'm just gonna go back and get some sleep..." I put the key in and turned, and when I opened the door, there was my room, as if I had entered from the dorm hall. I took out the key and stepped in, looking back at Mephisto. "Goodnight, Mephisto-san... Thanks... for everything..." I looked away so he couldn't see the smile on my face. God forbid I would never hear the end of it if I hadn't.

"Goodnight, Hime-chan. But you should know, I won't be assisting you tomorrow. I trust by now you'll know your way around the school, or you could atleast ask a classmate if you need any help. I have some work that needs to be taken care of. But if you ever have any problems or concerns that your peers can't handle, feel free to come to me. I'll be at your service~."

He bowed to me and took my hand, as if to kiss it. I couldn't help but laugh as I swatted him away. "Get out of here before you wind up eating me you weirdo." He smirked under his top hat. "Believe me, it takes alot to hold back. Be careful." As I closed the door and leaned back against it, I couldn't help but wonder... What about me was tasty to demons?

I looked down at my hand and licked my palm. Ew. My skin was bitter and salty from the sweat that had built up on it from holding my pencil earlier. Wait... what the hell...? Ugh... I'm letting all of this senka crap get to me too much...

I changed out of my uniform and hopped into bed, wondering what the next day held in store.


	3. Why is it always the nose?

**Dear animexbooksxmanga: There's a colored pic on deviant art, but i'll tell you anyway. ****Mana has chocolate brown eyes and light brown hair lol.**

**Dear Ishida Sasuke: I love you, you seriously made what was once my totally shitty night XD *hugs* thank you lmao**

**enjoy~**

* * *

><p>The next day, when lunch came around, Suguro met me at a bench in the courtyard. I immediately cracked open my book and started going over the material with him. Coal tar, masho, fatal verses, fighting tactics, holy water, all of them different tactics when confronted with a demon. It was prety easy to remember and catch onto if you thought about it like a fictional story. But at the same time you have to remember it's real, not fiction.<p>

He somehow managed to snag me a sandwhich before the crowd of hungry students could snatch them away. He was a very sweet person. I felt bad for acting so afraid of him yesterday.

"So, what would you do if a lower class demon tries to attack you?" I thought about it a moment, scratching at the headband he gave me. "Um... I would probably use holy water to temporarily blind or just incapacitate it, and use that opportunity to use a fatal verse, that is if I happen know the one of that specific demon. If I didn't know the fatal verse, then I would just attack the demon and deal a finishing blow." He was silent for a moment, just starring at me with an unreadable expression. I felt my cheeks warm in embarrassment. "I-Is that wrong? Should I do something else...?" He shook his head. "No. That's brilliant. You're really comming along, Mana-san." I grinned and scratched my nose. "Seriously? I'm not that great."

I looked back at the book and grinned. "I think you're the brilliant one, Suguro-kun. You can balance your high school studies ontop of your exorcism studies, and manage to get top-notch grades in both cases. I'm kinda jealous." I smiled stupidly at him. A group of girls from further off suddenly started chattering.

"Do you think they're dating?

"It sure looks like it. They're studying together and they are wearing matching headbands."

"Wow. Why would such a cute girl fall for someone like Suguro-san?"

"He looks like a mobster!"

"Then again, he's top of the class. She could be one who takes to the smart guys."

With every scentenced uttered the atmosphere was getting more awkward. He must have heard them too, considering the embarrassed and annoyed look on his face. I felt my cheeks heat up and I quickly pulled the head band out of my hair, brushing my bangs down and setting them back in their normal place. "Erm... Anyway... thank you for helping me, Suguro-kun. I appreciate it. I'll see you later, then?" I started picking up my books, and immediately he shot up, picking up some of them. "Here, let me help you!"

He started shuffling through and organizing the books and notebooks, organizing them into a neat pile. We just so happened to reach for the same book at the same time, and he accidentally grabbed my hand. We both dropped our piles on the ground and backed away from each other. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. Shit, if this kept up, people would really start confusing us for a couple.

"Look! They were just holding hands!"

I glared murderously at the girls over my shoulder. They all froze up and turned blue. I turned away from them and picked up the stack of books I dropped, storming past them.

"Nevermind what I said about her being cute. She's definately suited to Suguro-san."

I would have turned around and yelled at them, but I reminded myself that they weren't worth it and continued to storm off. Suddenly the books I was carrying slipped from my hands, and I immediately spun around, already pissed off and embarrassed about what had just happened.

"Hey, what the hell, pal!" I paused when Suguro's face went pale. "Jesus, you look scary. Remind me never to piss you off." My face burned and I looked away from him, glaring down the corridor of the courtyard. "Never piss me off." I looked back at him out the corner of my eye and frowned. "Give me back the load I was carrying. I don't want to burden you." He clicked his tounge and continued to walk ahead of me. "What kinda guy just lets a girl carry all these heavy books by herself? It would be rude to ignore." I felt my blood boil. "Oi, block head! Gimme those, I can carry them! I'm not some weak little pansy!" He looked at me over his shoulder and shrugged. "Okay. If you think you can handle it, come get them from me."

My heart jolted when the evil grin broke out across his face and he took off running. God dammit, the last thing I needed was to be messed with! I glared at his back and stood there for a few seconds, waiting for the right moment, fists clenched at my sides. Off in the distance, he spun around, running backwards perfectly and grinning at me.

"What's the matter! Can't catch up to me-AH, WHAT THE HELL!"

I made a dead bolt across the court yard, gaining on him. He spun around and picked up speed, trying to get away from me. But I was faster. And gaining on him. He turned the corner quickly, and suddenly fell backwards, scattering the books everywhere. I wound up tripping over him and landing on whoever it was who he had run into. I was sprawled out over the stranger's stomach. I sat up quickly and turned to look at the boy who had been starring at me in cram school.

'Oh shit, it's this creep!'

I paled. I didn't know what to say to him. Wait... ok, I wanted to apologize for using him to break my fall... but I couldn't get the words out. I could only stare awkwardly at him as he starred at me, equally shocked.

"Erm... um... I, uh... I'm really sorry!" His voice squeaked in his apology, and he quickly jumped up and ran the way he had came. Suguro sat up and glared at the kid's back. "Okumura, wait up! Oi, dammit quit runnin'!" I watched as he dissapeared into the school. I quickly turned back to Suguro and helped him pick up the books. "This is why we don't run on school grounds, dumbass." "OI! You're the dumbass for chasing me!" We glared at each other for a moment, before we errupted into laughter. We must have looked crazy. This time as we picked up the books, he let me carry half of the stack and walked me to my locker. I had to say, having Suguro around was refreshing.

* * *

><p>"Wow. You answered every question I asked correctly. Tell me, Fukunuma-san, how did you manage in just one night?" I grinned at sensei and scratched my nose. "Well, if it weren't for Suguro-kun I'd be totally lost. He makes a great tutor, y'know." Suguro, who was standing behind me, cleared his throat. Okumura-sensei nodded and smiled at me. "Well now, if this continues, I have no doubt you'll be competing for top of the class." I shook my head, elbowing Suguro lightly in the chest. "Nah. Let this guy here have the title. I'm a total underacheiver when it comes to fancy titles and stuff. They don't give me much motivation."<p>

"Well, I suppose that's understandable. We'll be starting in a few minutes, so get ready." We nodded and went back to our seats. I set up my back pack at the table I sat at yesterday and watched as Suguro made his way to the back. Oh well. Better to sit with friends than no one at all, right? Wait... why the hell am I sitting alone then? Way to be a hypocrite, Mana.

"Oooooh~. You're Fukunuma Mana, who Bon's taken a liking to, huh?" I looked up at the two sophomore boys who sat with Suguro. The taller one with the pink hair smiled at me, while the shorter bald one stood a little ways back. I nodded, smiling politely at them both. "Hello there. Who might you be?" The pink haired boy grinned and squatted, resting his elbows on the table. "I'm Renzou Shima. This is Miwa Konekomaru. And what an honor it is to be accuainted with such a cutie~." Wait. I looked around the room, then back to Shima. He was looking at me.

Me.

Me!

"Me!" I exclaimed, pointing at myself. He nodded once, beaming. "Of course, Fukunuma-chan! Who else would I be talking to? You're currently the cutest girl in the room~." I ganced around and noticed it was only us, Suguro, and Sensei occupying the room momentarily. I dead panned and went back to pulling out my books. "Right... Erm... well, thanks I guess... Sorry, I'm not really used to being complimented in such a straight forward way..."

The pink haired boy gaped. "Seriously? No one has ever told you you were cute? Because you're really cute! Super cute- OW! Okay, I'm sorry..." He stopped short when Suguro stormed up to him and smacked him upside the head. I'm glad somebody did. This guy was kinda annoying.

"Mana-san, I'll come sit with you if you're still having trouble with your work." I smiled at him sheepishly. "I think I'll be okay. But thank you." Truth be told, I really did want to sit with him. It felt awkward being alone in a small class. It wasn't like I wasn't used to being alone when it came to school, but now that I had someone I considered a friend, I really didn't want to be alone in the class. But I didn't wanna come off as some clingy freak either. "Ah, yeah, no problem. We'll keep the seat open for you if you ever decide you wanna come join us."

I nodded and smiled warmly at him. Jeeze, this guy was cool. "Thanks, Suguro-kun." Shima sighed. "Ah~ I was really hoping cute Fukunuma-chan would sit with us too~. From the moment I saw her cute, smiling face it had been a dream of mine..." The thing is, Shima's impression of Fukunuma Mana was a sweet, cheery girl with a smile that could light up a room. The exact opposite of the real me. I glared at him. He was creepier than that staring kid...

"'Can't blame her for wanting to sit in the front. Who'd wanna sit with you guys after that embarrasing outburst?"

I glanced over my shoulder to see a purple haired girl with pigtails glaring at the boys. "Shut the hell up and go back to your seat Kamiki!" Suguro shouted at her, causing me to shrink back. 'Kamiki' gave me a once over before smirking and looking back at the boys. "Well, I can't say I blame you, either. She is pretty eye catching. A pretty good trophy for a bunch of jocks like you."

Hearing that from her made something switch on inside of me. I don't know why, but that made me go into hysterics. The girl raised an eyebrow, looking disgusted with my ridiculous laughter. "What are you doing? I just insulted you, you should be pissed off, not laughing at me!" I slowly forced myself to calm down before sitting up and wiping a tear out of the corner of my eye "Damn! I'm sorry, that just caught me off guard! Haha, I've never been called a trophy before. If it weren't so surprising I probably would be pissed!"

I grinned at her. She seemed annoyed by this and strode away, nose in the air. "What a weirdo." The brown haired girl who sat with her mouthed an apology before turning back around. "Haha. That girl's gonna piss me off." With a grin, I turned back to the guys and froze when I noticed their stares. I blinked at them and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I knew there was something I liked about you Fukunuma-chan! What a gal, she doesn't take it from anyone! I can't blame you for liking her Bon~." Suguro glared daggers at him. "What the hell did you just say!" Shima sprinted down the aisle, Suguro chasing him, and Konekomaru following so as not to be left out.

"Damn." I paused in taking out my text books and glanced over at the creep who sat across from me. His face suddenly looked shocked, and he looked away from me quickly. I remembered falling on him earlier and wanted to go apologize, but as soon as I had stood up, Okumura-Sensei cleared his throat and instructed everyone to open their books. At that moment I had changed my mind. I didn't really have to apologize anyway...

* * *

><p>"Now, for this experiment of mixing ingrediants for treating Masho, I will be assigning everyone a partner. Here are the people I have paired up; Shima-kun and Miwa-kun, Paku-san and Kamiki-san, Yamada-san and Takara-san, and Okumura-kun and Fukunuma-san."<p>

I blinked. Oh no. No no no no nonononono. Not that creep! I mean, sure, I could use this chance to apologize, but what if he was some kind of super stalker or rapist, or one of those bizzaro otaku's who only talked about tenacle porn! I shuddered and looked the other way. Dammit.

"Suguro-kun, I'll allow you to work with Shima and Miwa for this assignment." I turned around, clutching my hands together and silently begging Suguro to be my partner. He must not have gotten the message. He raised an eyebrow at me before turning around to work with the others. I glared daggers at his back. Thick headed asshole.

"Um... So I guess we'll be partners..." I shuddered. That same, crackly voice from before sounded from behind me, and my blood ran cold. Not him, anything but him. God, why do you hate me so? First it was Kimiwarui from my old school, now it's that weird Okumura guy? I slowly turned around to look at him. He was looking away from me, looking just as frustrated as I was, scratching the back of his head and glaring at the floor. I mean, glaring like he was going to kill it. Well, this didn't make me feel anymore at ease.

I didn't say anything to him as I set up the lab equiptment, glaring at it the whole time. I didn't want to look at this guy. If I did, I knew I would feel repulsed. I don't know why I disliked him so much. The kid didn't do anything besides stare at me. Mabey it was the way he was starring at me, like I was some piece of meat. That hungry look he had on his face...

A chill ran down my spine, causing me to drop the glass liquid measuring cup. I heard him squak and turned just in time to watch him grab it before it it the floor. He slammed it down on the table and glared at me. I found it odd that I wasn't repulsed by him as I analyzed his annoyed face. Though, yes, he still semi-creeped me out, he wasn't starring at me. His glaring seemed normal, and it almost bothered me. Almost.

"Dammit, watch what your doing, you could have cut me." I almost dropped the cup on his foot. Yes, if he hadn't been paying attention the glass would have broken and probably have gone through his foot. I turned away from him and bit my lip. Now I really felt bad. "Sorry." I picked up the activity worksheet and put it between the two of us, feeling stupid for my next question. "You've been here longer. You know what we need for this?"

He stood up and grunted. "Yeah. Agrimony and holy water." I nodded and watched under my bangs as he made his way to the front of the room, sorting through the jars for the correct ingrediants. I set up the miniature bunson burner and placed a flask over it to heat. "Um... You probably don't care or anything... But... erm..." I froze and looked at him out of the corner of my eyes and watched him freeze as well. "U-Um, never mind." He robotically, and almost humorously, put the items down on the table and sat next to me in the same fashion.

"Could I have the holy water, Okumura?" He flinched. "Yes... right... holy water..." He handed me the bottle of holy water required and I began to boil it, according to the directions on the board. "Um... Fukunuma... was it?" I nodded, not wanting to look at him. This was so unnerving. "Um... yes... Fukunuma..." Suddenly the tension in the air got stronger, and I couldn't move. I dead panned at the awkward silence.

"U-um... The agrimony extract Okumura...?" He jumped, fumbling for the glass jar, nearly dropping it before shoving it in my face, smacking me in the nose.

"OW! Dammit!"

I slammed my hands down over my nose. "Ah! I'm sorry I didn't mean-" He stood up and somehow managed to knock the budson burner out of balance, causing it to break the agrimony and causing the table to combust almost immediately. I jumped back, knocking my chair over. I looked down at my hands and saw blood all over them. I heard Okumura emit a strange noise, causing me to look over.

He was starring at my bloody hands, his face pale, and his expression twisted into something strange. He inhaled deeply and leaned in slightly to me. Of course, it could have been the agrimony he was breathing in, but something told me otherwise. The look in his eyes freightened me. It looked almost exactly like that of the demon that had attacked me my 16th birthday. His irises elongated and flashed a brilliant cerulean in contrast to the amber light of the flames.

I nearly screamed when I heard the hiss of the fire extinguisher and saw Okumura-sensei grip Okumura by the arm and shake him lightly. Okumura suddenly snapped out of his trance and looked from Okumura-sensei, to me. Holy shit. I just put it together. They have the same last name! Getting off topic, but still!

"Oh... Oh man! Did I do that?" Okumura put a hand over his mouth and starred in horror. What was up with this guy? "You moron! First you hit a girl and try to set the classroom on fire! What the hell is wrong with you!" I looked back as Suguro glared daggers into Okumura, Konekomaru and Shima had a hold on each of his arms incase he tried to attack him. Okumura looked back at me, his eyes clearly portraying guilt. I felt my dislike for him lessen. The look on his face made me feel bad for him.

"Fukunuma-san, come over to my desk and I'll fix your nose for you. Okumura-kun, clean up the mess, everyone keep working." No one did anything for a moment, but slowly went back to what they were doing. I followed sensei to the front of the class and sat down in the chair as instructed. He pulled a first aid kit out from under his desk and pulled out sanitary wipes and tissue. He wiped the blood off of my face and told me to tilt my head back with the tissue over my nose. I leaned back in the chair and starred over at Okumura. He looked really upset.

"Okumura." He jumped slightly and starred at me like a deer in headlights. I motioned for him to come over with my free hand. He stiffly walked over to me, his face pained. "I am reallyreallyreallyreally sorry! I'm such an idiot... and I can't believe I did that to a girl! That was so uncool!" I blinked at him as he continued to rant, his face flushed. I sat up, checking my nose now that it had stopped bleeding, and smiled at him. "It's alright, it was an accident. Just don't let it happen again otherwise I might really get angry." He nodded and kept his head down. I held out my hand to him.

"I want to start over, properly." His face instanly changed, going from upset to stunned. This guy was so animated, it was almost made me laugh. It made me curious about him. He seemed like a nice person.

"My name is Fukunuma Mana, you?" He didn't move. "Just take my damn hand, Okumura." I glared at him lightly, annoyed by his slow reaction. He jumped and took my hand in a firm grip. "My name is Okumura Rin!" I gave his hand one, solid shake before letting go and standing up.

"It's nice to meet you. You seem to have a ways to go... I'll help you clean up."

He nodded, still staring at me in bewilderment, before following after.

* * *

><p>"Well, we had to stay after class to find a new table and lab equiptment, but we still managed!"<p>

Okumura grinned at me, in all his toothy glory. I smiled and slung my bag over my shoulder. My thoughts of disliking him only dulled slightly after his smashing my nose with a jar of agrimony, but atleast I wasn't so nervous around him anymore.

"Well, I suppose I'll see you tomorrow, Okumura." I turned to walk out, when he suddenly skidded in between me and the door. I raised an eyebrow. "Okumura?" His cheeks were red, and he looked like he was out of breath. He was fine just a few seconds ago, wasn't he? Eh... this was kinda creeping me out too...

"Fukunuma-san, I can't even tell you how sorry I am about what happened today. I want to compensate. Please let me bring you lunch tomorrow."

...

"Isn't the girl the one who cooks for the guy?" He got flustered but shook it off. "Yeah, well... I'm a really good cook! And you're still mad about what happened, I can tell. So please, during lunch tomorrow I'll make you something, anything! You name it!" I shook my head. "Well... considering the food's over priced here and the best I can do is PB&J, I'll accept your offer. I just have one condition." He raised an eyebrow.

"I don't have anyone to sit with at lunch currently. Wanna join me?" His face darkened slightly. "R-Really? I mean... Is that okay?" I smiled at him. He didn't seem like a bad person at all. And I could tell he was trying his best to get me to notice him, but he didn't know how. He was too innocent for his own good.

"Of course. I'll be honest, your starring yesterday was kinda getting on my nerves." He twitched and glared at me. "Oi, I couldn't help it, you smelled like-" He stopped mid sentence, and I whipped my head back over to him. "What did you say...?" Mabey I had heard him wrong. Mabey he was saying something else. Something not creepy at all. Not creepy, not creepy, not creepy.

Okay... he was really creepy.

"Haha, you know what? Forget I said anything! See you around, Okumura." I manuvered around him and paced out the door, wanting to get away from him as fast as I could. "Wait! Fukunuma!" I stopped and hesitantly turned around. He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. "It's just... I'm not too good with talking to girls sometimes..." He leaned against the door frame and face palmed. "Dammit... I'm really sorry if you think I'm some kind of freak. I'm used to it, so just forget it..."

My laughter caught him by surprise. "It's alright. I'm the same way with guys. I guess I can see where you're comming from... but you're trying too hard. Just think of me as a normal person. I mean, maybe I'm not all that normal... but still. Just relax. I'm easy to get along with, If you just go with the flow." I rubbed my arm and looked away. I still wasn't sure about this. I still didn't want to trust him, but I saw a little bit of myself in him, so I didn't want to just blow him off either. I kinda wanted to see what he was like for myself. Then again, curiosity killed the cat...

This time it was his turn to laugh. "Well, since we're on the same page, I'll see ya tomorrow, lunch buddy?" I slowly relaxed and nodded, flustered by my painful honestly a few moments ago. "Of course... See you tomorrow, Okumura."

I scuttled down the hallway, wanting the comfort of my warm bed now more than ever.

"Wait! Fukunuma-san!"

I paused and looked at him over my shoulder. Did I do something wrong? "Okumura?" He scowled and scratched his nose. "Call me Rin." I nodded. I was unable to resist the small smile forcing its way onto my face. "Okay then... In that case, call me Mana. I hate formalities." He chuckled and smiled.

"Well... erm... G'night, Mana-san- AGH!" He had started walking backwards into the classroom and wound up tripping over his feet, dissapearing behind the door. "Good night... Rin..." I ran to unlock the correct door and rushed into my room as quickly as I could. That was so embarrassing! Wait... why was it embarrassing? What the hell is wrong with me!

* * *

><p><em>:So wait... this guy in your cram school smashed your nose in and offered to make you lunch to make up for it?:<em>

**:Yep.:**

_:Why is it always your nose? O.o:_

**:Emi. T_T:**

_:Haha, I'm just messin' with ya Senpai, calm down :P So, what's his name, what's he look like?:_

**:His name is Okumura Rin, he's about an inch taller than me, he kinda looks like a roughneck...:**

_:Whoa, wait, a guy in your class who's actually taller than you and not a douche bag? Even if it's only an inch, that's impressive! He sounds more like a keeper than a creeper~. Is he cute? :3:_

**:How the hell should I know? I've been more focused on avoiding him than checking him out.-_-':**

I paused, taking a moment to think of what to say next,

**:But there's another guy who talks to me too. His name is Suguro Ryuuji, he looks like he belongs in the Yakuza, but he's really smart and kind. He offered me tutoring if I ever needed help with my studies, he also said I could sit with he and his friends whenever I wanted.:**

_:Sounds like he's interested. That or he's lookin' to gang bang ya. _:_

I glared at the computer monitor and lifted my hands before typing back furiously.

**:No. Believe me he's nothing like that. T_T:**

_:Then he must be interested. Why else would he be so nice?:_

**:I guess you have a point... But it's still too early to decide whether or not it's true. I'll report back over time, either way. I know you just love this stuff .:**

_:That I do~ :3:_

**:Anyway, I have to get some sleep. I don't want to fall back into my old habits.:**

_:lol I gettcha. Later, Senpai.:_

**:Night, Emi-chan.:**

On my way to school the next morning I happened to bump into someone I hadn't expected to see. I was turning a corner, around a brick wall at a four way and slammed into a tall male student. I stood up immediately and bowed. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going and-"

"Ah, It's alright, Fukunuma-san."

My eyes widened at the familiar voice. "Holy- Sensei!" Okumura-sensei stood up, strightening his tie and offering me a polite smile. "Sorry, but during school hours would you call me Okumura, or Yukio? It sounds odd when a student adresses another student as their teacher..." I flushed and nodded. "Yeah, I see your point there... I guess I'm just not used to seeing you... especially in the boys uniform... It actually rather suits you." His cheeks twinged pink and he nodded. "Thanks..."

oho.

I grinned and poked his cheek. "What's the matter?_ Okumura-kun~? _Not used to being complimented by a girl?" He swatted my hand away and glared lightly at me. "Shut up."

"I'm just teasing ya, lighten up a little~." He did a double take at me. "Oh right, your nose. How's it been feeling since Nii-san hit you yesterday?" I rubbed my nose and grinned. "Well, okay I guess. It's a little bruised but- oi, wait. Okumura... He's your brother...?" He smiled and nodded. "Yeah. My older twin brother."

I nearly choked on my spit, earning a shocked expression from him. "Is it that suprising...?" I cleared my throat and shuffled my feet. "Erm... Well, you guys definately look a _little alike_... but I thought he was a distant relative or cousin or something..." He laughed. "Yes, we are very different. It's alright I get that alot."

I looked back in the direction he had come from. If I remembered correctly, it was the abandoned boys dormitory that I had heard some of the girl's refer to as the 'ghost hotel'. I raised an eyebrow. "You live in the abandoned dormitory? Doesn't it get lonely there?" He shook his head. "Not really. It's just Nii-san and I, but we have each other, so it's not too bad. And I kind of like the privacy."

We walked together up until we got to the school, and i noticed some of the girls starring at us intently. "Se- ah, sorry. Okumura-kun, why are they starring so intently at us?" I noticed him flinch harshly. "You okay?" He shook his head. "I seem to be popular with the girls on campus... It's a bit unnerving sometimes..." I giggled.

"I can't say I blame them, you are a powerful figure for your grade. So, what, are they intimidated by me or something?" He shuddered. "Probably. Sorry." I laughed and shook my head before turning on the stairway and looking out at the scattered group of girls across the vicinity.

"Hey! You don't have to worry! Okumura-kun and I are just friends, nothing more! He's all yours!"

Some of their faces looked relieved, others looked like they would keel over at any moment. Sensei slammed a hand over my mouth and drug me into the building. I couldn't help but snicker the whole way. "Are you insane! Are you trying to get me ambushed!" I glared at him. "Seriously? What kind of guy hates being liked by girls? Are you gay or something, sensei?"

He sputtered.

"Of course not! It's just-" His cheeks lit up and he spun away from me. "You're as bad as talking to girls as your brother, right? Forget what I said, you two really ARE brothers!" He exhaled and nodded. I grinned and slung an arm over his shoulder. "No worries, I'll keep 'em at bay for ya, alright? I'll even help you build your social skills so that mabey if you see one that catches your eye, you can get the guts to ask her out~!" He smiled pitifully. "I appreciate the offer, but in my line of work I don't really have time for a girl friend." I beamed at him and stood straight, asaluting him like a soldier. "Then the least I can do is fend them off. Leave it to me, sensei!"

He looked ahead of him in thought, before turning to me with a grin. "Well, your request is kind of hard to pass down. Are you sure you'd be okay with it? I don't want to put you into a position where-" I clicked my tounge and stood on my tip-toes to ruffle his hair, seeing as he was a good four inches taller than me. "It's okay, I'm used to being disliked, feels odd without having a few enemies around, and i'm on good terms with a few of the girls here, so if I know them, they'll understand." He smiled genuinely and nodded. "Very well. Thanks, Fukunuma-san."

I nodded with a grin.

"Hey, sensei, why are you hiding behind that tree? Aren't you gonna eat?" I raised an eyebrow at him as he peeked halfway around the tree at me. it was now time for lunch and I had just met up with sensei, like we had agreed. "B-But, what if more girls want to give me lunch? I can't eat all of it... Nii-san already forced me to eat all the lunches girls made for me the one day after I refused them... The sight of all that food..." Now this was just rediculous. His face paled, and his stomach suddenly heaved. I jumped up from my seat on the ground and put my hands out. "Whoa whoa whoa! Don't barf! Erm... aren't you gonna eat something...?"

"Nii-san said that he would have something small for me to eat, so that I can atleast make it through the day..." He slowly came out from behind the tree and hung his head. "Jeeze... your own brother scared you into annorexia?"

"Hey! Yukio, Mana-san!" When I turned around my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. "Okumura, what happened to your clothes?" He was covered in what looked to be... condiments. splotches of green and orange and yellow, and the occasional flour spot here and there adorned him from head to toe. "Ukobach wanted to make lunch for Mana-san when I told him about what happened. I had to fight him for the kitchen..."

I raised an eyebrow. "What the hell is an 'Ukobach'?" He blinked before shaking his head and holding a blue bento container to me.

"Sorry. It's terriyaki pork rolls with okra."

"An Ukobach is pork rolls?"

"Are you stupid! Of course not!"

I smirked at his annoyed expression and motioned for him to continue. He cleared his throat. "I'm not sure if you like them or not but- eh?" I popped off the lid, took the chop sticks he held out to me and picked up one of them. "Wow. As an artist I must say these are well prepared. And the way you placed them in the box looks proffessional."

I took a bite of it.

I felt electricity travel through my body.

Okumura and Sensei glanced at eachother, then back to me.

I turned to Okumura and grasped his hands, unable to control the tears that welled in my eyes. "This is the most magnificent thing I have ever tasted in my life. My mom can't even cook this good! Okumura, you have a gift! I'm unworthy of this!" I still found him disturbing and a sketchy guy, but at the moment, I wanted to fucking hug him! There's no way he could have made this. It was too good...

I paused.

"This... Isn't poisoned, is it...?"

"Oh, c'mon!"

He glared daggers at me and I breathed a sigh of relief before popping another one in my kouth and melting again. I swear, I could see angels. "Okumura~ Kyaaa~ I think I've gone to heaven~." His face turned red, and he scratched the back of his head. "W-Well, gee, It can't be that good..." I beamed at him. "Oh but it is!"

I immediately planted myself on the grass and shoveled down the pork rolls. He sat down next to me and pulled out a box of his own from his bag. Sensei seemed to have dissapeared somewhere, probably to go barf.

"Again, sorry for yesterday. This is the last time I'm apologizing, so don't yell at me or anything..." I couldn't swallow my food in time, so I pocketed it and tried to talk around it. "Issh pine. Dow wolly abbet ehsh." I swallowed the large amount of food with a reddened face. To my amazement, and annoyance, he found it funny. Hysterical, for some reason. I watched as he fell backwards, cackling, his voice cracking in places.

"What the hell are you laughing at!" He put an arm over his eyes to sheild them from the sun, his sapphire eyes shimmering in its rays. I found myself starring at them. For a moment... he wasn't some weirdo who stares at me in class and who practically broke my nose. He was a nice boy with really pretty eyes. A blend of Cobalt and Saphire, and when sunlight shone on them, they had a cerulean sheen to them. For the first time, in a long time, I had the urge to draw something. And that something happened to be this boys eyes...

"Haha, I don't know. You just looked like a fish when you did that." I snapped out of my trance and I shoved the now empty box into Okumura's stomach, hard, causing him to cough. "Ow! That hurt Mana-san!"

"So did saying I look like a fish, wise ass."

As we continued to bicker playfully under the large oak tree, I found myself oddly comfortable with him. Okumura was sweet and kind, which made me wonder why girl's didn't like him as much as they did Sensei. His voice always cracked or got raspy whenever he was excited and over talked, which earned him teasing from me. His eyes sparkled whenever something I said interested him, and his face lit up like a wild fire.

...And before I knew it, the bell for the next period tolled from the main building.

Had it really been that long? Okumura seemed dissapointed by the length of time that had gone by as well. "Aw man. Lunch is over all ready? I was really having fun there." I nodded. "Time flies when you're having fun..." I smiled, then paused when I noticed the analytical look he was giving me. "Mana-san..." I tilted my head at him, letting him know he had my undivided attention.

He suddenly beamed and stood up. "Thanks for letting me eat lunch with you." I took his outstretched hand and allowed him to help me up. "I guess I'll see you at the cram school then?" I stared at him a moment. Maybe... just maybe... he wasn't as bad as I thought he was..."

"Yeah, I'll see you later, Rin." He stopped to look at me. I raised an eyebrow. "What is it?" He shook his head and looked away, chuckling. "N-Nothing... W-Well... Just now you... Yeah... See you later..."

He began sprinting away, and I watched him retreat. Okumura Rin. I wonder what things would be like later on. He certainly was interesting now that I had gotten to know him a little better. Hm. Maybe...

nah...

he was still too creepy to trust completely.


	4. Kamiki Senpai

**...**

**Sorry it hasn't updated for a while. I've had to rewrite this thing twice now, because every time my brother uses my mom's computer he deletes my stories even though I tell him constantly not to T_T I need to get my computer fixed... I'm ready to have a freakin' corinary...**

**THURSDAY WAS MAH BIRTHDAY :DD**

**It hasn't hit me that I'm sixteen yet as hard as it did when I turned 15... weird...**

**anywho, shout outs~**

**Sketchninja7: Thanks for the chats on deviantart, they were fun 3 lol**

**Hiyomi: Your reviews always make my day 3 thank you for supporting me so much and helping me grow in this story. You're definately one of my favorites 3 thank you for everything!**

**Also, I don't mean to be annoying... But if you're a fan of KHR and you like Hibari fics, then please read my drabble story, Nigami to Amai. I've been writing in for a while but I'm not getting alot of reviews. Then again, it's rated M so people might be overlooking it or not seeing it... Anyway! If you are at all interested, feel free to read and review it!**

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><p>It had been two weeks since I started attending True Cross academy. A few days since I really began speaking to Suguro and Rin. So far they were the closest friends I had on the campus, and yes, I guess I considered that creeper Okumura a friend... but he was still a creep. He made me lunch everyday, and we were occasionally accompanied by Suguro. It seemed he and Okumura were friendly rivals of some sort. Though they frequently looked like they wanted to kill each other. Sensei also came to sit with us now and then, when he wasn't hiding from the girl's who so obssessively stalked him. Konekomaru and Shima too, once they discovered Suguro's whereabouts. They were starting to become familiar people as well. True Cross was beginning to feel like a second home to me.<p>

On my way to the cram school one afternoon, a cute puppy with shaggy grey fur ran infront of me, causing me to stumble over him and nearly fall on my face. Now, had this predicament been accidental I would have forgiven him, but since it wasn't my good mood had been ruined. I glared at the dog, who sat there with an amused aura about him.

"Damn you, Mephisto! You think this is funny? If I hit my nose again, Okumura-sensei said I could break it!" He poofed back into his human form and out stretched his arms to me. "Forgive me Hime-chan~. I was in a hurry to get to you before you got to the class." I raised a brow at him. "Wait a sec... You said you had things to do, so why are you here?" His face darkened slightly. "Because this is an emergency." His expression downshifted to a serious one, one which didn't fit his usual character.

"You still have that clover charm, right?" I nodded slowly and pulled the flask with the clover in it from my skirt pocket. "Here, try this instead." He took the flask from me and threw it over his shoulder into the bushes. "Oi, what are you doing, that's supposed to protect me isn't-" I was cut off when I notticed the obnoxious pink object he shoved in my face.

A spray bottle?

"Why are you giving me a spray bottle instead of the cha-" I stopped short and screamed when he started squirting me with it. He was pulling the trigger so fast that it felt as if I were being hit with large, wet bullets. I flinched and tried to jump away, but he kept managing to squirt me somehow. "MEPHISTO!"

He laughed. "Smell the water, Hime-chan." Okay, now I was overflowing with blind fury. "Why the fuck should I? Is it really water or are you fucking with me?" His eyes widened slightly. "I never knew you had such a mouth~. So unfit for a princess!"

"FUCK YOU."

I caught the smell of something sweet and herbal, grabbed the bottom of my wet uniform vest, and lowered my head to inhale. "Is... Is this holy water...?" I calmed myself slightly as I starred at him in bewilderment. "This is a step up from the charm, in order for you to learn how to defend yourself without it. If smaller, annoying demons come after you, squirt them with this, and they'll leave you alone. It will work on any demon~!"

I starred at the pink bottle in my hand.

Light bulb.

"Any demon, you say?"

"Yup~! Any demon!"

He stood with his chest out and hands on his hips, before noticing the evil grin on my face. His expression changed drastically, horrifyed. "Hime-chan, wait-!" He let out a bizzare yelp as soon as I released the hell fire of holy water (haha, oxymoron), on him. Steam rose from his body as he rolled around on the ground, trying to stop the burning. Suddenly, he shot up, running off down the pathway and diving over the railing, into the pond below.

I smirked and put the water bottle in my bag, before turning around and bumping into Suguro's chest. "Was that the head master?" I froze for a moment. Why the hell was he here anyway? He usually took the long way to the cram school with those guys he hung around with. "No, just some weirdo. Um... we don't wanna be late for class! Let's get going Suguro-kun!"

I spun him around and started pushing him toward the edge, instructing him to use the gardening shed. "Are you sure? He looked just like-" I cut him off quickly. "A weirdo! Just keep walking Suguro-kun I don't want him following me again..." I didn't need anyone knowing I was close with the headmaster. they might get the wrong idea. "Erm... alright...?"

I got out my key, unlocked the door and shoved him inside. We walked down the hallway in silence, until he looked at me with an odd stare. "Why are you all wet?" I looked down at my clothes and smiled sheepishly. "The weirdo attacked me with a squirt bottle, so I got him back."

"You mean the headmaster?"

I frowned. Obviously there was no avoiding it. But that didn't mean I wasn't gonna try. "Well, why the hell did you follow me to the cram school anyway?" His face burned brightly and he glared at me. "I-I wanted to make sure you got there safely!" I snorted and put my arms behind my head. "Right, because I'm totally gonna get shanked on school grounds in broad daylight." He growled and stormed off ahead of me. I giggled to myself and quickly approached him, following him in as he entered the classroom.

"Oi, Mana-san! I wanna talk to you for a sec!" I gave Rin a small wave and stepped forward to greet him, when suguro punched the desk, earning a glare from the smaller boy. "Oi, don't act so friendly with her, I still can't forgive you after that lab incident." Rin stood and got in his face, glaring. "No shit, you remind me everyday! Give it a rest already!"

I stood between the two and smacked them straight in the face, palms out and crushing their noses. "Okay, that's enough you two. Suguro-kun, I've already forgiven Rin. It's been two weeks, seriously, get over it. Rin, quit arguing with him, it's annoying." I noticed Suguro scowl and give a final glare to Rin before stalking to the back of the class, rubbing his nose.

I turned to look at Rin, noticing the oggling expersion on his face. A little freaked out, I took a step away and raised an eyebrow. "Um... what are you staring at... Ah crap, is there something on my face? In my teeth?" I brushed at my face ferociously. "Ah- No! No thre's nothing wrong, it's just..." He grinned and scratched the back of his head sheepishly, giggling slightly. "That's the second time you called me by my name. It makes me really happy to hear it!" I felt a twinge of annoyance and looked away from him, rubbing my left arm. I was annoyed because I suddenly couldn't look at him. "Well, it's your name, isn't it? Why the hell are you so happy about that?"

He suddenly shot up from his seat and reached over to put his hand on my head. "Anyway, I wanted to ask you something. Since you've only been eating PB&J for the last two weeks, I've decided to make you lunch from now on, and I won't take no for an answer!" I couldn't do anything except blink. I swear, I could see a halo of light around his head.

Resisting the urge to hug him, I instead tokk his hand and nodded vigorously. "Rin-kun~ you really are an angel~." He laughed slightly and shook his head. "Right..." He sat down with his chin on his fist, carefully slipping his hand out of my grasp. _"If only you knew..."_ His words made a shiver run along my spine. Why did he seem so ominous all of a sudden?

"Oh, sorry, it's nothing. So it's a deal then...?" I couldn't help but be concerned about what he said. It made me want to shy away from him, to keep my distance. But I knew I was being rediculous. "Well, I don't wanna impose-" He cut me off. "Impose, shrimp nose. Just say yes, it'll be easier on me." He grinned stupidly. I questioned his odd play on (considering shrimp's dont have noses... or atleast i think they don't...), but offered a smile and nodded none the less.

"Good. Shiemi-san's been sick for the last few days, but I don't think she'd mind... if you want, you can come over here and sit with us." I smiled at the thought. "You see, Suguro already asked me to sit with him... I wouldn't want to be rude..." He looked angry for a second, but shook it off and grinned. "Then, just for today, sit with me." I looked at the seat beside him where this 'Shiemi' girl usually sat. A bit of guilt washed over me. "What about the girl next to you?" He shrugged. "Nah, it'll be fine. Shiemi is really nice, and she wouldn't mind if it were for one day."

I thought about it a moment and shrugged. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt anything..." I walked over to the empty seat beside him and sat down, pulling the contents of my bag out awkwardly. Rin noticed this and gave me a push. "Lighten up, will ya? I'm not gonna bite you!" I laughed and shoved him back lightly.

"Who the hell does he think he is? Some kind of player?" I glanced over my shoulder and nearly choked on my saliva. Three tables away was Kamiki and that girl, Kamiki glaring daggers at me. I smirked and leaned back in the chair, jerking my thumb back in Rin's direction. "Who, this guy? He's creepy, he can't talk to women, and he has no charisma what so ever. Believe me, he's no player." I tried to ignore the gloomy aura that radiated off of him. Kamiki smirked back "Hah. Can't argue with that."

I stood up and walked over to her calmly. She eye balled me as I came to a complete halt beside her, smiling away. I raised my hand in a sharp movement, causing her to flinch. My immediate laughter afterwards seemed to catch she and the girl beside her off guard.

"Relax, Kamiki-senpai. I'm not really gonna hit you. You really should keep things to yourself, though. People are gonna get sick of you real fast if you keep acting like you're better than everyone and expect them to sit back and take it." Her breath hitched, and she immediately stood, slamming her hands on her desk.

"Who are you to tell me what I should and shouldn't do? Anyway, I heard you were just some country bumpkin idiot who got in on a scholarship, so what could you possibly know?" I raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't really know how you can call Takayama the country side, but whatever. And anyway, who really cares about whether or not I got a scholarship? Most everyone here did themselves, and they're all brilliant people. So I would think that getting in on a scholarship means they're special. And what about you? Are you some kind of blue blood brat who thinks that since they got in with money, they're better than everyone? Whatever the case, I couldn't careless. I'm just saying, you need to learn a thing or two about people before you go and run your mouth. If anything, you're the real idiot here."

"Excuse me!"

I calmly walked back to the seat beside Rin, and made an attempt at conversation in order to steer my thoughts away from Kamiki. Also, I didn't want him to get the impression I was sticking up for him. Even though I kinda was. But the thought of it was annoying, and I would rather no one dwell on it too much. I still hadn't accepted the fact that he was growing on me, myself.

* * *

><p>After class, the brown haired girl who always sits with Kamiki approached me. Rin had gone off to talk with the guys while I was packing my things. I looked up at her cautiously. She seemed nice enough. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if she was just as vicious as her friend.<p>

"Hi there Fukunuma-san, My name is Paku. Please forgive Izumo-chan. She doesn't mean what she says, she's just stubborn is all. I'm sorry for what happened today. You seem like a nice person, nothing like what she says, and I know you are, so don't let it get to you." She bowed, her face adorned with a pained expression. The fact that she was so polite and kind in her words really shocked me. Why would someone like her be friends with Kamiki?

I put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up. "Can I ask you something, Paku-chan?" She nodded. "Why are you friends with Kamiki? She's rude to others and acts like she's above everyone. You don't seem like the kind of person who would hang out with that type." Her eyes downcast and she smiled sadly. "I am Izumo-chan's first and only friend. I don't approve of her behavior, but we've always been close, and I can't easliy brake that bond. She used to be bullied by everyone, and didn't have anyone to go to for help."

Was it just me, or was this starting to sound a bit like Emi and I?

I looked away from her. "I guess you could say I used to be the same way. I got picked on alot, then my best friend Emi showed up and I suddenly wasn't so lonely anymore. I found my long forgotten courage and didn't take shit from anyone, and I thought she was all I would ever need. I couldn't open my mind to anyone else..."

She giggled. "You're right. That does sound like Izumo-chan." I sat back and thought for a moment. Mabey Kamiki was kinda like me. If that were the case, mabey I could open her mind a little... I looked over at Paku and smiled. "Don't apologize for Kamiki. And don't apologize to me. It was Rin who she said those things about. If she's really sorry, she'll apologize to him."

Paku smiled and giggled. I raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?" She grinned. "Oh, it's nothing really. It's just, you seemed like you hated Okumura-kun when you first arrived here... It seems like now you've grown fond of him." My face heated and I looked away to glare at the wall. "Look, it's not that I've 'grown fond of him' or anything... It's more like I may have misjudged him a little..." She laughed, a little louder. "Whatever you say, Fukunuma-san."

I analyzed her for a moment as she began to walk away. "Paku-chan." She stopped and turned to look at me, a puzzled expression adorning her face. I grinned and held out my hand to her. "You're a good friend. I like you! Will you be my friend too?" Paku's mind seemed to go blank for a moment, before she gave me a toothy smile and shook my hand. "That would be nice. Thank you, Mana-chan."

"Haha, you know, as your new friend, I must advise that you smile like that more often." She raised an eyebrow. "Why do you say that?" I pretended to think for a moment before snapping my fingers and beaming at her. "You're really pretty when you do!" Her cheeks twinged pink and she mimicked the same, goofy, toothy grin. "Just like that, haha!"

"Oi, Mana-san!"

I looked over my shoulder to see Suguro, Rin, Shima and Konekomaru. I glanced back at Paku and smiled. "I'll see you later then, Paku-chan!" She nodded. "Bye, Mana-chan!"

* * *

><p>"What is with you guys and always wanting to hang around me? I would tone it down a bit, you're gonna give everyone, myself included, the wrong impression." Shima bounced up to me, a grin on his face. "Because, you're sweet and beautiful!" I smacked him upside the head. He shied away from me, pouting.<p>

"Oi, Okumura, what's the big deal anyway? We asked her to sit with us and then you've gotta swing in like you usually do." I glared at Suguro. "Oi, shut up, skunk-head. I sat with him because I wanted to." Rin and Shima suddenly started cackling. "He-He really does look like a skunk!" "SHIMA!" Shima took off as Suguro tailed him down the hallway, leaving Konekomaru and I to stare and Rin behind us, leaning against the wall in his hysterics. The smaller boy and I exchanged a look before exhaling and continuing down the hall.

"Haha- O-Oi, wait up!"

As we made our way down the hall, I thought about what had happened in the classroom and what had happened in the class. I looked down at the floor and remembered what Paku told me.

"I am Izumo-chan's first and only friend. I don't approve of her behavior, but we've always been close, and I can't easliy brake that bond. She used to be bullied by everyone, and didn't have anyone to go to for help."

"I really believe we're similar..."

Shima suddenly was infront of me. He spun me around and grabbed me under the arms to hold me up, shielding himself from Suguro's rage. Suguro's hand had been out stretched, to grab Shima's collar. But instead of grabbing a fist full of cotton, he grabbed a fist full of my right boob.

...

The entire hallway fell silent. The only thing that I could hear was the bloody rushing through my ears faster than normal. "B-Bon, I think you should let go..." Suguro immediately jumped away, sputtering like an idiot, his face completely red. "M-Mana I'm so sorry I really didn't mean it-"

BAM!

"Okumura-kun!"

Rin flew in from the side and kicked him in the head, sending him flying into the wall. "What the hell are you, some kinda pervert! I wanted to- erk! I mean... What I did wasn't nearly as offensive as this!" I hung limp in Shima's grasp.

"Shima. If you value your life you will let go of me."

I felt my feet touch the floor and slowly turned to the pink haired boy, grabbing his collar and dragging him behind me. I bent down and picked up Suguro by the collar. The both starred at me with fear in their eyes. Instantly I slammed their heads together and dropped them on the floor, going back to pick up my fallen back pack, and continuing down the hallway.

"M-Mana-san..."

I turned slowly to glare at Rin over my shoulder. My eyebrows were pulled down into a sharp, 'V' shape, and I had to bite my bottom lip to prevent myself from screaming profanities at him. Needless to say, my face must have been pretty scary considering Rin and Konekomaru looked like they shit their pants. I slowly turned around and continued down the hallway, resisting the urge to punch one of the doors out.

I turned to a door on the left and unlocked it, stepping into my room and slamming the door behind me. I put my face in my hands and exhaled in an attempt to calm myself down. The last time something like this happened was when that nerdy kid got shoved into me at my old school and landed in my boobs. Of course, the kid was shorter than usual, and it wasn't his fault, but I got so mad I threw him into the bullies who were picking on him an knocked them all out like bowling pins.

SLAM

I jumped and pryed my hands off of my face as the books on my shelf fell off from the impact of the door slamming open against the wall.

"Hime-chan~!"

"Mother fucker."

"No, It's Mephisto Pheles, but you were close~."

I spun around and punched him straight in the face, causing him to double over. I grabbed his arm and flipped him over my head and glared at him as he starred up at me through wide, bleary eyes that were starting to turn black and blue.

"I. Hate. Men."

I turned on my heel and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind me.

* * *

><p>"...What the hell are you doing...?"<p>

I stared at the four idiots as they cowered into the Sakura tree we ate at during lunch. They huddled against one another, starring at me as if I were the grudge, about to devour them. I exhaled and gripped the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache comming on. "Look. If this is about yesterday, I'm sorry. I don't handle awkward situations well... And Suguro, you should have seen it comming, I told you not to piss me off." He jumped up and glared at me. "You pissed me off first with that Skunk-head bull shit!" I ignored him and plopped down beside Rin, who winced, and quickly held a bento out to me. I licked my lips and opened the top, peering inside.

"Tamagoyaki~, thank you for the meal, Rin-kun~." I broke the chopsticks and chowed down. Jeeze, if Rin wasn't so weird I would have fallen for him ages ago. Everyone seemed to relax as I chowed down, and eventually they started opening their own lunches.

"Ah, by the way, Mana-san. Why did you stick up for me like that yesterday?" a piece of egg lodged itself in my throat. Konekomaru got behind me and gave me the himelick, instantly causing me to spit egg on Suguro's shoe. "Jesus that's disgusting!" He spun around and shook his leg, flinging the pre chewed bento off of his loafers. I immediately turned to Rin, my face burning. "I wasn't sticking up for you! I just can't stand her sometimes, that Kamiki..." He blinked. "Really? Because Paku-san told me she was under the impression you were." I froze. Damn you, Paku!

I looked away. "No. Kamiki's just annoying. Don't over think things..." My thoughts lead back to the conversation Paku and I had. Kamiki and I were both bullied as kids, and we never had a chance to show who we really were. I messed around with the bacon rolls Rin threw in on the side and frowned.

"Though... I really do believe we are similar..."

...

The first thing I heard was Shima's obnoxious laughter. "Y-You and Kamiki-chan? PWAHAHA! Fukunuma-chan, that's a bad joke!" Suguro and I glared at him. "Shima, shut the hell up!" Shima hid behind Konekomaru, attempting to escape Suguro's glare. "Why do you think that the two of you are similar, Mana-san?" I muttered a quick thanks to Suguro, before turning to answer Rin's question.

"When I was younger, I used to be bullied and picked on because I could see spirits. No one believed me, not even my own parents. And no matter how hard I tried to convince everyone, they shunned me, made me a laughing stock, did everything they could to make me feel like some kind of reject..." I clenched my fists, remembering some of those times. The faces of the snot nosed brats who called me a witch, and played pranks on me.

"...After I finally realized no one would believe me, I decided to cover it up, make it look like I had an over active imagination. Even after passing myself off for a klutz and a moron, even after trying to appear average, I still had no one. Then, Emi-chan came along. She always followed me around and tried to be friendly, and didn't care what others thought of her for it. We became best friends. I guess in that sense, Emi and I are alot like Kamiki and Paku."

They listened to me quietly. I smiled up at them. "I understand now why Kamiki is the way she is. One friend is all it takes to make you realize your potential. But Kamiki is arrogant, and thinks that Paku is better than anyone else... there was a time where I too thought and acted the same way..." I felt the determination of my decision pouring into me as I snapped my head up and grinned.

"I'm going to show Kamiki that we're similar, and that she has the ability to be friends with everyone else. I mean, I thought that Emi was all that I was gonna have. I thought that she was all I needed. I thought she was the only one who would accept me for me. Sometimes I still wonder about it... But then I think about all the people I've met here, and how much they've influenced me... and I want to be friends with everyone! Kamiki isn't a bad person... just a little misguided."

Rin scowled and shoved his hands in his pockets. "If you're really set on this, then I guess I'll support you... I think she just needs to get laid, but if you say you think you're similar, then I'll keep an open mind." I ignored the middle part and thanked him. "I can't say I agree with you. I think she got what was comming to her today, and if she thinks about opening her mouth like that to you guys again, I'll be the one to knock her out." I winced. "Ah, Suguro-kun that's not neccessary-"

"I'll help you Mana-chan~. OW!" I punched Shima on the head. "Sorry, pervs are forbidden from adressing me so formally." Konekomaru spoke up. "I'll help too, Fukunuma-san." I smiled and slung an arm around him, giving him a slight hug. "Well, thank you Konekomaru-kun~."

I starred at the lot of them as they took turns chatting and messing with eachother. It felt odd that the people who I considered my main group of friends here were all guys, but it seemed as though guys were easier to get along with. I am glad I came to true cross academy. Rin, Suguro, Shima-baka, Konekomaru, Paku... haha, even that crazy bastard Mephisto... Especially that crazy bastard. If he hadn't brought me to the school, I never would have met these guys.

"Oi, we asked her to sit with us first, what's your game, 'play boy'?" Rin growled at him and shot to hit feet, pointing an accusing finger at Suguro. "How the hell was I supposed to know! Besides, if she wanted to sit with you she would have sat with you, but she's sitting with me, so there~ Nyeh~" Rin stuck his tongue out at Suguro, pissing him off and causing them to start bickering. I took off my shoes and chucked it at their heads, seeing as Shima and Konekomaru couldn't get them to stop. They all turned to watch as I doubled over, laughing at the lot of them. "Why am I hanging out with you idiots anyway?"

They all joined in, laughing with me.

Why indeed?

* * *

><p>The next day when I walked into the cram school, I got to meet Moriyama Shiemi. She was probably the cutest girl I've ever met. She was very pretty, and reminded me of a zashikiwarashi, which made me a little uncomfortable intruding on her sitting with Rin, though I couldn't fathom any reason other than they probably liked each other. I had bumped into her as soon as I had opened the door.<p>

"Oh... Oh my goodness! I'm sorry, I should have been looking where I was going!" I put my hands up in my defense.

"Eh, don't blame yourself, it was my fault..."

"But I'm the one who tried to go through the door without thinking anyone would be there! I'm sorry!"

"No, really, I should have made sure no one was behind the door, it's my fau-"

"Shut the hell up, you're both to blame!" I flinched as the weird kid with the rabbit puppted walked by me. His ventriliquism was amazing. Albeit a bit scary, but still amazing. I looked back down at the blonde girl, who's cheeks were flushed.

"Sorry... erm... I'm Fukunuma Mana... It's nice to meet you..." I took a step away and bowed to her. "M-My name is Moriyama Shiemi... It's nice to meet you too..." The silence was awkward amongst the students in the classroom. "Um... What are you guys doing...?" I dead panned at Rin's sudden presence. "Um... Apologizing...?" Rin smiled. "Shiemi-san, this is the Mana-san I've been telling you about."

I noticed that Shiemi seemed to shy away from Rin, in an uncomfortable manner. Did something happen between them? "Oh, right." She starred up at me with grave determination. "Fukunuma-san." I cocked my head to the side and starred at her, bemused. "...ara~?" Her cheeks turned bright red, and she puffed out her cheeks.

"Please be my friend!"

...

...

...

"Um... okay?"

She gasped and shot away from me. "Do you mean it? Really?" I smiled awkwardly. "Well, if you wanna be friends, then yeah, I'd love to." It looked as though there were tears in her eyes as she shot back up to me and grabbed my hand. "Thank you! I'm so glad I made a friend today!" I resisted the urge to yank my hand away. "Um... no problem...?" I had never had anyone just barge up to me and ask me to be their friend. Well, there was Emi, but I kinda didn't have a choice in that one, and she wasn't as awkward as Shiemi.

I took the seat behind Rin, not wanting to go back to sitting alone. Well, that was easy...

"Oi. I'm sitting here today."

I turned my head in time to see Suguro plant himself next to me at the table. Shima and Konekomaru followed suit by sitting behind us. "Hey! Who said you could sit here?" Rin and Suguro exchanged a glare. "We wanted to sit here because of Mana-san. This is also a better way to make sure you're not flirting instead of studying."

"Wow~. Fukunuma-san is friends with everyone here, isn't she?" I smiled at Shiemi. "Well... Almost everyone..." I looked over my shoulder at Kamiki, who was looking away from us, scowling at the wall across the room. I stood up and walked over to her desk, forgetting to put down my bag, and bowing. "Kamiki-senpai, would you like to sit with us today? Of course, Paku-chan, you're welcome to sit with us too."

The whole room went silent.

Kamiki laughed obnoxiously. "Why would I wanna sit with a country bumpkin like you? God forbid I'd catch your stupid."

Snap.

Slowly, I reached into my bag and stood straight.

"GAH! WHAT THE HELL!"

Kamiki fell over as I attacked her with the pink spray bottle. When I ran out, I let my hand fall limp, glaring at her. She was soaked from head to toe.

"What the hell is this... holy water?"

"Sorry, Senpai. The head master gave it to me to ward off demons since I'm prone to attacks. I just wanted to make sure you weren't one too. You were sure convincing me for a second there." I grinned before taking the spray bottle and shoving it back in my bag.

"Though, I guess I am pretty stupid for thinking we were similar in anyway."

For a second, she looked shocked. But it was too quick to know for sure. "Oh, give it a rest already! Your little 'I wanna be friends with everyone!' act isn't fooling me!" I went back to my seat and threw down my bag. "What ever happened to making friends with her, Fukunuma-san?" I clicked my tongue at Konekomaru and slumped in my seat. "...If she's sorry for what she did, she'll apologize on her own."

"Were you really gonna let her sit with us, Mana-san?"

I glanced over at Suguro, contemplating his statement before glaring back down at my hands.

"I was... but I guess I kinda snapped..."


	5. Tamer

**nyahahahaha~**

**Thank you faithful readers who have stuck with me thus far~ You see, I was at otakon, which was freakin' amazing, and then I got busy with work (Cuz I work at an amusement park which is not as amusing as it sounds. Especially at the end of summer when freaking stupid ass new yorkers (I live in the east coast, and of course no offense to my viewers in new york) bring their kids right before school starts and make us have to work overtime ) and now school started up about two weeks ago, but i've been working little by little on this chapter. Updates will be slow, but I refuse to give in!**

**Also, I had a meltdown the other night when I realized that I'll be graduating in two years ._. I'm not ready at all lmao**

**Oh, one more thing before You read, I didn't change too much about this chapter, but things definitely ARE different, so please read thoroughly and be sure not to skip over anything.**

**Sankyuu~ :D**

* * *

><p>"Soon you'll break for a month and a half of summer vacation. But before that, you will be required to take this year's exwire examination. I will be holding a training camp for the exams next week. If you wish to participate in the camp, please take a paper and fill out the necessary information and what type of meister you would like to be. I ask that you have it turned into me by Monday."<p>

Sensei handed out papers to Rin, Shiemi, and I. I scanned over my paper with mild confusion...Okay... that was an understatement... Rin turned around to stare at Suguro. His bangs were held back by the clip in his hair. I personally thought he looked like a dork, but didn't bother to say anything. I kinda looked dorky in the headband Suguro gave me, after all.

"So... what's a meister...? Tell me... please..." I jumped slightly at his words. He was actually asking Suguro for help? "What? You wanna become an exorcist and yet you don't even know what a meister is?" I raised my hand slowly, in both mine and Rin's defense. "Um... actually Suguro-kun, I don't know either..." He looked like he had been electrocuted by those words. "Ah! Well, of course! It's okay for you Mana-san because you're new..." Rin squaked at him. "What the hell? She's been here for three months! And _you're_ worried about _me_ flirting?" Suguro shot up, nearly knocking the table over.

"At least I can balance personal matters with my studies!"

I snorted, earning a look from the two boys. "Would this be your confession of love to me, Suguro-kun?" I made a kissy face at him, earning a glare and a burning red blush from him. I wasn't an idiot. I knew Suguro liked me for about a month now. Teasing him was fun, though. "N-No! That's not what I meant-" He waved his hands defensively in front of me. I noticed an evil grin/half glare on Rin's face. "You're no better than I am~." Suguro grabbed his collar and shook him like a doll. "Don't compare me to you, play boy!"

"Oi, would you two shut the hell up! Suguro-kun, just tell us what a meister is so we can move on!" I rubbed my temples, now getting annoyed with their bickering. He cleared his throat and nodded. "R-right..." Konekomaru popped his head out of a book and smiled.

"A meister is the technical qualification needed to become an exorcist. The five categories are knight, dragoon, tamer, aria, and doctor. You can become an exorcist if you obtain the title 'meister' in any of the categories. So depending on the meister, the fighting style changes."

"huh... I sorta get it now... Thanks Konekomaru!" I watched as the little friendship between Rin and Konekomaru seemed to click. "So what will you pick?"

"What the hell is with you people acting so friendly all of a sudden!" I glared at Suguro, who frowned and turned away to sulk in his annoyance. "Shut up and leave 'em be, skunk-head."

"I'm not a God damn skunk!"

"Shima and I want to become Aria, meisters who fight reciting holy scriptures and bible verses." I smirked slightly at Konekomaru's ability to ignore Suguro. I envied the little genius sometimes~. Shima grinned beside me and poked my cheek. "Sounds pretty neat, huh? Are you finally looking up to me, Fukunuma-chan- AH!" I bit down on his finger, then let go to glare at him. "As if, you weirdo."

"Bon's gonna push himself until he gets both Aria and Dragoon!" Rin seemed to ogle at him. "Seriously? As expected of him!" His admiration of Suguro really showed sometimes. It was funny to watch. "SHIMA! I won't forgive you for speaking so friendly about me like that!" I chuckled and put my hands up to calm him down. "Haha, calm down, Suguro-kun." A sudden thought came to mind.

"Okumura-sensei is an exorcist, right? What kind of meister is he?" Konekomaru snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah! Okumura sensei is a doctor and a dragoon! Dragoons are meisters who fight with guns." I looked to the front of the room, where sensei stood, assisting Shiemi with a question. "Wow. I guess there really is more to him than meets the eye." Rin raised an eyebrow. "What? You've doubted him before?" I blinked. "No, it's just that he seems so gentle and tender. The doctor part I can see. But c'mon. Sensei? A gun slinger? I don't doubt it. It's just difficult to picture."

Rin shrugged. "I guess... But for the record, he's more like an evil four eyed spotty devil hiding in a charming guy's ski- YEOW!" Okumura-sensei, who happened to be walking by, 'accidentally' stepped on Rin's root. He smiled down at the five of us. "How is everything? Is it all making sense or do you need any help?" I starred at Rin, Who rocked in his seat, clutching his foot. I couldn't help but smirk.

I shook it off and picked up my paper, scanning the page. "Ah, here's one we haven't talked about yet. Okumura-sensei, what's a knight?" He raised an eyebrow. "A knight is a meister who uses swords as their weapon of choice. I'm surprised. I thought Neigauz-sensei would have briefed you on the matters of meisters, Fukunuma-san." I jutted out my bottom lip, a habit when confused or in deep though. "No, it's weird. He only teaches in the exorcist school, but he never briefed me on anything beforehand, he only tutored me in basic high school studies."

"A sword, hm?"

Everyone glared at Rin. "Oi, it's rude to interrupt, idiot!" Rin jumped slightly at my irked outburst. "Erm... Sorry Mana-san! It's just, I think I really wanna be a knight!" I directed my gaze to the long red bag he always carried on his back. "So you're telling me that thing is a sword? I always thought it was a bat." He shifted the bag into his lap and smiled. "Yeah. It's a memoir of my Dad."

That made me think for a moment. "So, he gave it to you, huh? Is it like some sort of family heirloom?" He shook his head. "No, it's just something he told me to keep with me at all times, no matter what..." He spaced out, starring at the sword, his expression blank and indistinct. Okumura-sensei shook his head and stalked off to the other side of the room.

I looked down at the paper in my hands and frowned.

Aria- well, that's easy enough. Fatal verses could come in handy when fighting a demon, or just keeping them at bay in general. But I was really bad at memorizing things.

Tamer- I won't know if I have the ability until second period, so I'll have to wait on that one.

Dragoon- I can't hit a target to save my life.

Doctor- I have no medical knowledge what so ever and don't have an interest in it.

Knight- I don't know how to use a sword.

I fixed the headband in my hair and scanned over the page a second time. I let my head fall and set the paper on the table. Shima was the first to speak. "Fukunuma-chan...?" I felt miserable. "I'm totally useless..." His face would have been priceless had I not currently been sulking. "N-no! I mean, there's plenty to choose from-" I cut him off quickly, shaking my head. "That's not what I mean, Shima." I grabbed the bridge of my nose and rubbed in an attempt to rid myself of the forming headache.

"I've never actually fought in my life. I have no real talents or skills when it comes to fighting. And when it comes to demons, I'd be eaten in a milisecond..." Suguro shifted next to me. "But... demons don't eat people, Mana-san." I stared at him for a moment, my mind blank. Oh shit, that's right, I'm not an ordinary human. I giggled and waved my hands around, failing in my attempt of not panicking. "W-well, you never know, right? haha! Um... anyway..." I straightened the stack of papers and kept my face down. "Is there something you'd like to share with us, Mana-san?" I couldn't help but glare at Rin, who had a skeptical look on his face. "Of course not, I just-"

"If she doesn't want to share it, she doesn't have to."

We jumped as Okumura-Sensei strode by casually, eyeing our group. That's right, Mephisto told me he had informed some of the teachers about the Senka. Did Okumura-sensei...?

"What the hell was that about...?" Rin shuddered, glaring at sensei's back. I looked away from everyone, towards the opposite wall. "Anyway, I don't have a real method of fighting. And who could teach me in such a short amount of time?" The guys didn't say anything for a moment. "Well, we're being tested to see if we have tamer abilities today, right? You might make an excellent tamer, Fukunuma-chan!" But the problem with becoming a tamer is that any demon I summon might turn around and swallow me whole, Shima. And being the Senka, I'd be more of a liability than a help to anyone.

I shuddered at the thought. "No. Tamer is out." I couldn't take any chances. "What? Oh c'mon, give it some thought!" Suguro glared at me, his annoyance growing. "Look, I have my reasons, okay?" I froze at how that sounded. I didn't mean to come off snippy. Jeeze, why the hell couldn't I have been a natural born actress? "I'm sorry... It's just... I just can't explain it..." Suguro nodded slowly, leaning slightly away from me.

"Fukunuma-san, was attacked by demons before, right?" I jumped and looked back at sensei, who had appeared at the table again. "S-sensei..." He smiled reassuringly, and for a moment, I almost took what he said into consideration. "If you become a tamer, Fukunuma-san, which ever demon you summon will be loyal to you, no matter what. So long as you remain steadfast and don't let your command slip, you will have no trouble keeping them at bay. It may also be beneficial to you to have a demon companion." I looked away from him and exhaled. "I'll try to keep an open mind, Sensei. But in my current position, I'd be more of a liability than a help to anyone..."

Suguro slammed his fists down on the table, startling all of us. "What the hell is this? Since when were you so negative?" I glared at him. "I told you. I have my reasons." He leaned in, his face twisted into a snarl. "You shouldn't keep secrets from us! We're your friends, dumbass! We want to help you and understand why you're shooting this down, so start talking!"

"Look, Suguro-kun. It's just really complicated-"

"Everything with you is complicated! Maybe if you weren't so spoiled-"

SLAP

Everyone in the class turned their heads.

I was angry. Angry that he couldn't just shut the hell up and drop it like everyone else. Angry that he was pressuring me, and that he had the nerve to call me spoiled. What did he know? If I could tell him, I would, but I can't. Even if I explained that to him, he wouldn't understand.

I glared down at him and looked away. The red mark was prominent on his right cheek, and he starred at me like he had been hurt, more than physically. Suddenly I regretted my action. I regretted hitting him, and thinking such horrible things. I looked down and clenched my fists, shaking.

"I need to get some air."

* * *

><p>When I had come to my senses, I was outside of the classroom. I looked around at the hallways, unable to admire the architecture through the fear and confusion that clouded my mind. I remembered a time from when I was younger, when I went to my parents and cried to them about the ghosts torturing me. My dad would get mad at me, and angrily question me about why I was making such horrible stories up. When I told him I didn't know, he would continually yell, until I told him I was lying, merely to please him and to make the yelling stop. In that moment, Suguro reminded me of my dad from when I was a kid. Yelling at me when I couldn't give him the answer he wanted or was looking for. Calling me spoiled, like my dad did when he was frustrated with me. I resented those feelings as a child coming from my father, and I didn't want to see them resurfacing with my friends. Especially Suguro. He was the first real friend I had made when I came here. He had been nothing but sweet and kind to me, and then I go and do something like that. Maybe they were right. I am spoiled.<p>

I sat back against the wall, sinking down into a sitting position and burying my face into my knees. I felt sick. I didn't want to keep secrets from them. Of course not. But it wasn't something that needed to be said. If they were my friends, they would just accept it and leave it alone, right? Suguro seemed like the only one adamant in making me share things. But, it was only because he cared. Damn it, what the hell is wrong with me?

I heard the classroom door open beside me and hugged my legs tighter. Whoever it was took a seat beside me and exhaled. I looked back at Rin, who had followed me out of the class. "O-Okumura!" He snorted and raised an eyebrow, a grin present on his face. "What happened to calling me Rin...? I liked that better." I dead panned and scratched the back of my head. "S-Sorry, Rin. You just caught me off guard..." I scooted away from him and rested my chin on my knees. He exhaled and scooted closer to me. "C'mon, Mana-san. Let's go back. You can apologize to Suguro then." I turned my head to stare at him for a moment. "I shouldn't have hit him. That was really uncalled for... he was just trying to help..." He chuckled. "Well, I can't exactly blame you for hitting him. He needs to have a little more patience."

This wasn't helping me much. "Rin... Suguro-kun was the first friend I made here. I've never fought with him once... Especially over something so stupid... I don't want him to hate me because of that... He's really important to me..." I looked up immediately, glaring at him. "You better not tell anyone I said that!" He put his hands up, his expression slightly annoyed. "Believe me. I'll take it to my grave." He shifted slightly so he could face me. "But y'know, Suguro's really strong. He can take a hit anyway, be it from a demon or his own mother. Which when you think about it might even be both." I couldn't help but laugh at this.

He sighed and slung an arm over my shoulder, giving me a squeeze. I felt my face heat up from the awkward embrace, and looked up, noticing his face was colored as well. "Look. Why don't you tell me here, where no one else can hear. Huh? I won't tell the others if you don't want me too. And you can even think of this as practice if you do decide to tell them."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Too embarrassed."

"At least you're admitting it now~."

He spun his head, amazingly avoiding whiplash somehow. He starred at me for a few seconds before removing his arm from my shoulders and crossing his arms, slouching and pouting like a scolded child. "C'mon. Fess up before I get mad." I smiled, and let my legs fall to rest on the floor, leaning back against the wall.

"Since I was little, I've been able to see things... they've always tortured me and played pranks on me, and when I told others, they didn't believe me. One day, an odd looking man showed up and told me he wanted to give me a scholarship because of my abilities. A scholarship to this place... so naturally, I seized the opportunity. The next day the most popular guy in school asked me out on a date. Of course, everyone knew I was a freak, so it made me suspicious... but he seemed sincere, so I said okay. When I got to the roof, he cornered me and attacked me... he was possessed... then the same man with the scholarship showed up and saved me, saying that if I became an exorcist, I could protect myself and those precious to me from demons, and not have to worry ever again."

I hugged my knees to my chest again, this time needing them for reassurance.

"Thinking about demons before never scared me. Maybe it's because living here, I haven't seen them at all, and I've been taking them too lightly. Even now, I'm not afraid... it's just... what if I don't even have tamer abilities? Okumura-sensei said that the ratio of tamers within a group of exorcist is one in a hundred. Do you really think any of us will have the ability? And if I don't have it, then I'll be stuck with Aria for my path choice. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but i'd be totally useless if I just stuck to Aria. And anyway, what will happen if I run into a demon and don't know its fatal verse? I won't be able to fight back, and poof! I'm as good as dead! Or even worse, someone would die because I couldn't help them..."

I felt something rest on my shoulder. I looked over at his stupid grin and suddenly felt reassured. Something in his eyes told me that he wouldn't let anything happen to me, and for some reason I trusted he would. An idea buzzed into my brain at that moment, and I realized I wanted to draw him. His smooth features, his messily styled hair and relaxed expression... I never realized how good looking he was.

I shook my head, cheeks burning, before turning away from him. "Rin. I want to apologize to Suguro-kun now. But... Can we keep this between us? You're the first person I've told about it... and I think I'd like to keep it that way... Suguro would just get all clingy and over protective..." My hand was pulled up, and our hands were linked by our pinkies. I looked him in the eyes, cobalt burning and melting my chocolate ones. "No worries. But you'll have to tell them eventually." I smirked and allowed him to help me to my feet. "Eventually."

Suddenly, something bizarre happened.

A flash of cerulean blinded me for a moment, causing me to stumble backwards.

"M-Mana?"

More flashes. His hand, still clasping mine, suddenly felt like it was burning me. I could see blue flames surrounding him. His ears were longer, pointed than the norm and stuck out from his head in their elfin manner. His teeth were bared at me, razor sharp and dripping with saliva. His eyes were what frightened me most though. His irises were misshapen, like deformed triangles with pupils glowing red and slit. They gazed through me with the same hunger the day of the lab experiment.

I took another step backward, my heart racing a mile a minute.

Run.

I had to run.

"Mana..."

He lunged forward, fangs bared, claws outstretched to me.

I flinched visibly, cringing as his grip closed tightly on my forearms.

"You're a demon!"

I froze when I was suddenly released.

I opened my eyes slowly, taking in what had just happened. Rin's eyes were wide, his hands were swinging slightly at his sides from where he had dropped them. "Wh-What...?" I didn't know what had just happened, but I was sure that I had just hurt another friend. My shoulders were shrugged into my neck, and my fists were clenched tightly at my sides. I decided to play it off as being bashful.

"Erm.. Wh-What I mean to say is, you're like a demon!" His expression went from alarmed to relaxed. An odd reaction. "What are you talking about?" I threw my hands up in my defense, sweating lightly. "Y-You're really good with words and you cheer people up... the only difference is... you're not doing it to be manipulative or for your own purposes... A-At least I don't believe you are, erm... Maybe that wasn't the right thing to say..."

Shit, would he buy it?

He suddenly started laughing. I glared at him, cheeks heating. "What the hell's so funny!" He grinned and wiped a tear from his eyes. "Haha, I don't really know myself! I guess you could say I'm relieved! Y'know, you can be cute sometimes, Mana!" I spun around on my heel and stalked past him, wrapping my hand around the knob when he called my name quickly. I was getting sick of hearing the word 'cute' to describe me. It was more annoying than Shima's ramblings. "Mana-chan!" I flinched, spinning around to stare at him in shock for using such a suffix for me. He grinned and reached over his head to scratch the back of his head sheepishly. "Y-You're... Really cute... not just sometimes... a lot, actually..." My brow twitched with annoyance and I stopped to look at him, before heading back into the classroom to be greeted with the shocked stares of my classmates.

I looked back where Suguro and the guys were and grinned, skipping up to them and smiling. "Suguro-kun, I'm so sorry for smacking you. Please understand though that I'm still having issues about my past, and it's hard for me to explain it sometimes. I'm not ready to share my past with everyone just yet, and I'd appreciate it if you would respect that and let me go at my own pace." Suguro's cheeks darkened and he looked down. "I'm sorry for calling you spoiled. I deserved that, so there's no need to apologize. If anything, I'm sorry." I beamed and took my seat beside him, glad that everything had been put behind us.

Though as I watched Rin take his seat across from me at the table, I couldn't help but stare. That sensation I had earlier. That image of Rin as a demon. It was so surreal. Of course, Rin couldn't be a demon, right? I mean, he was too kind and stupid. Then again, the day I was attacked by Jun, I never suspected him of being a demon either. Demons could hardly contain themselves at the scent of my blood. When Rin hit me the day of the experiment, and the day I walked into the classroom, he looked hungry in this strange, feral way. The other day when I got a paper cut in class, no one noticed it except for him, and he was standing on the opposite side of the room, not even facing my direction. And what about my vision? Blue flames. It was so strange. Rin looked away from Shima and caught my staring, raising an eyebrow.

"Is something wrong, Mana-chan?"

"OI! Where the hell are your manners, Okumura!"

"Shut the frick up, skunk head."

"GAAAAHHH!"

I gave Suguro a light slap upside the head, signaling him to shut up, using that opportunity to direct my thoughts elsewhere. There's no way Rin could be a demon, or so I told myself. Maybe, though, I just didn't want to believe it.

* * *

><p>"Okay. I'll be summoning my familiar now."<p>

We watched as Neigauz-sensei drew a diagram on the floor of the run-down classroom, dust collecting around the chalk as he moved it about the floor. I stared lazily at it, holding my hand up to my mouth to cover my yawn. "I'm sorry Mana-san, am I boring you?" I flinched, feeling a sense of deja-vu from back when Neigauz-sensei tutored me. "Erm... No, sir, please excuse me." He nodded and went back to drawing the complex diagram. Shima elbowed me lightly in the side. "Oi, Fukunuma-chan, what's with the familiarity?" I shook my head, feeling embarrassed from having attention drawn to me. "Neigauz-sensei tutored me before I started school. He regularly checks in on me to make sure I'm doing everything correctly, in both high school and my exorcist studies." Shima nodded, focusing in on Neigauz. Despite being an idiot, he had the amazing ability to absorb everything like a sponge. I think that was the only respectable thing about him. Neigauz-sensei's voice made me jump.

"Be careful not to step on the drawing. If you do, the magic circle is broken and will lose its effect."

Rin stood to my right, analyzing the circle with his features scrunched tightly. "Are you having trouble seeing it or something?" He shook his head. "No. Just making an effort to concentrate, like Yukio said." I raised an eyebrow, but didn't bother to ask. I probably wouldn't have wanted to know anyway. He looked over at me and smiled. The urge to draw him came back to me again. "How are you feeling?" I wrinkled my nose. "Annoyed." He took a step back. "Wh-Why?" I squinted at his weirded out expression. "For the first time in a long time I have the urge to draw something. The annoying part is, I want to draw you."

His eyes went wide. He looked as though he were about to say something when Neigauz cleared his throat.

Neigauz-sensei pulled down his right sleeve, revealing a bloody, bandaged hand. "Your blood and an appropriate appeal are necessary for a successful summoning." He splashed some of his blood across the diagram, causing it to glow with a radiant light.

"The son of Typhoeus and Echinda, Answer my request and come out!"

The air around the circle was spinning. I shielded my eyes with my arm and watched as two gruesome looking hands slowly rose from the floor. The creature that came out looked like is was made of gore. It released a bizarre howl, earning a shudder from me.

"There are incredibly small amounts of humans who can summon demons and make them work as their familiars. Sheer spiritual fortitude is needed to tame the demons, but natural talent is also a benefactor."

Shima and I covered our noses at the awful stench it emitted, like rotting flesh. "Whoa! That's a naberius! I've never seen one up close!" I glared at Suguro. "You are such an exorcist otaku, I swear to God..." He glared at me. "So the hell what!"

"I will be testing you now to see if you have the talent of summoning." Sensei handed out small papers with diagrams on them. I took mine and waved it like a handkerchief. Neigauz reached over and flicked me in the forehead, glaring at me. I glared back, rubbing the red mark he had made and poking my tongue out. Things like this happened frequently before I had even started school. If I started to distract myself or start to space off, he'd flick me in the forehead and tell me to focus.

He crossed his arms and exhaled sharply. "On these papers, put a small drop of blood on the diagram and recite the words that first come to mind. Now, who would like to go first?" I felt a hand on my back, and was suddenly shoved forward, nearly falling on the smelly naberius. It tilted its head and sniffed the air obnoxiously.

Smelling me.

I froze and cautiously looked up at Neigauz-Sensei, immediately going ridged from fear. His eye was wide as well, and he looked behind me to glare at the culprit. "She wants to go first, sensei!" I whipped my head around to glare at the cheeky Rin.

"God damn it, Rin! Are you an idiot? Wait, don't even answer that!"

Neigauz-sensei approached me with a frown. He bent down to whisper to me cautiously, "Fukunuma-sama. You don't have to go through with this. We are aware of your condition, and we wouldn't want anything to happen to you." I thought about what Rin had said earlier. I sure as hell wasn't gonna pansy out again. If I did I would never hear the end of it from him.

"It's okay, Neigauz-sensei. I think I want to."

He glowered down at me. "You _think_ you do? You need to be absolutely positive before making a decision like tha-" I cut him off quickly and cockily. "What are you, my mother? Jeeze, if it makes you feel better I'll let someone go ahead of me to test it." I starred down at the paper in my hands. Right now I just wanted to get it over it to make Neigauz stop his nagging. But... what was I supposed to say? A prayer? A poem? A mantra? Nothing came to mind. I was going to ask Neigauz when an annoyance interfered.

"Step aside, I'll show you how it's done." Kamiki shoved passed me, and I glared at her ferociously. "Oi, I'm currently being very tolerant of you. Don't blow it or else I might attack you with holy water again." She glared at me. I felt electricity pass between the two of us for a moment, the air of a rivalry becoming apparent now. The boys shuddered across the room. "I really would hate to see the outcome of those two locked in a room alone." I would have laughed at Suguro for this, had I not been focused on not losing to the purple haired annoyance in front of me. Though I had no idea what I would lose if I looked away. Probably my ego. She turned on her heel, effectively swiping the tip of my nose with one of her pigtails.

"I ask the grace of Inari, the god of harvest, to answer my prayers!"

The diagram on her paper emitted purple smoke and light, spinning around her in a vortex of color. I couldn't help but stare. It was a magical sight, something truly magnificent. Two dog spirits materialized in the air around her, decorated in festive accessories. "Holy crap! That's so cool!" Even I had to agree with Rin's little outburst of amazement. Kamiki looked awesome. Which pissed me off.

"Two Byakko's... excellent work Kamiki!" Kamiki shoved passed me again, this time I had to be restrained from grabbing her pigtails and swinging her around, Trunchbull style*. Neigauz-Sensei grabbed my hand as I unconsciously reached out for one of those annoying purple ribbons of hair that whipped me again.

"That was great Izumo-chan! I'm useless at these kind of things..." I frowned at Paku. I was about to step up and say something encouraging, but decided against it. "Of course! I'm related to a miko after all!" More like you're related to medusa you miserable little bit-

"Damn it, I've got no talent."

"Me too."

"Me three!"

I deadpanned at the guys.

"I-I'll do it too!" I looked over at Shiemi, a confident look on her face. This was the first time I ever saw a shred of it cross her features. I got up behind her and pushed her up to the plate. "C'mon, Shiemi-chan! You can do it!" Shiemi's face reddened. "You really think so, Mana-chan?" I nodded and looked down at her paper. "Give it a shot! You never know unless you try!" I wanted to encourage her, seeing as she was always so bashful in class. She nodded once, and smiled down at her paper.

"Um... Come out come out wherever you are~ haha, just kidding..."

For a moment, nothing happened. The room was filled with an awkward silence.

"Um, Shiemi-chan-"

A few sparks kicked out from her paper, and a little green creature came out of it. "A green man spirit. How wonderful, Moriyama." The cute little creature hugged Shiemi, which made me smile. I hoped if I had any talent I would get a cute little creature like that.

"Are we done here? We don't really have to wait up for Mana-chin, do we?" I wrinkled my nose at Kamiki. "Ew. Don't give me such a cutesy nickname, it's disgusting." Kamiki smirked and folded her arms over her chest. "Why not? It's suiting, isn't it? A nickname so cute that it's disgusting, for a girl who's the same." I couldn't help but smirk at this. "Haha. You know, I think I like you a little better than I did before... No... forget that, I still dislike you... rather, I respect you for coming up with something clever as that." That seemed to catch her off guard. Her eyes grew wide, and her mouth opened slightly. "I just insulted you."

"I know. But it was funny~."

"Hold on a sec-"

She stopped when I turned my back to her and held out my paper. I bit my thumb hard enough to draw blood, and smeared it over the circle. The naberius suddenly yelped, when Neigauz-sensei shoved it into the floor. The smell of my blood must have caused it to act out. I had to do this quickly. I closed my eyes and racked my brain for the correct words. Okumura-sensei said I was in control, right? Even if I am the Senka, I'm still in control. I'm still the master here!

"I offer you my blood, the elixir of life. Answer my request and stand before your master!"

...

Well, this was embarrassing.

I felt my face flush as nothing happened. I glared down at the paper and waved it around. "Come on, really? What the hell is this!" I waved the paper around some more. Something had to come out. I had to show her who's boss. I wasn't gonna let her one up me. "M-Maybe I should say something else..." Kamiki snickered behind me. I suddenly felt the embarrassment and anger reach it's peak. "I guess some are more talented than others." I spun on my heel, pointing a finger at her. "Shut the hell u-"

A strong gust of wind, stronger than what had come out of Neigauz and Kamiki's diagrams, knocked Kamiki off balance and onto the floor. I froze in my spot, still pointing where my new rival once stood. My hair whipped around me, blinding my sight. I slowly turned around as the wind died down. A bluish smoke spun around the diagram that I had dropped on the floor, and something blue had shot out of it. It twisted and curled and moved around the room, until it encircled itself around me and starred at me with it's large amber eyes.

"The elixir of life, you say? Then it's true. You really are the Senka."

I fell backwards. The creature wrapped around me like a snake, protecting me from hitting the ground. Its skin was smooth and scaly, and shimmered a brilliant sapphire in the light. "Th-That's a river spirit... A dragon!" Konekomaru's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I gawked at him as the dragon leaned in closer to sniff at me. The boys gawked right back at me.

The large azure colored creature bent its head to sniff my hand, where my bleeding thumb was.

"I will obey your every command, hime-sama. Though only in exchange for a taste of your blood whenever you summon me."

I starred down at my thumb and shakily stuck it out to it. "Will this be enough for now...?" It's long pink tongue wrapped around my thumb, caressing it softly. I had this strange sensation. My thumb tingled in a familiar way, but I couldn't think of a time where this sensation occurred to me . In less than a second, it had released it and looked at its own handiwork. There was a translucent pink liquid left behind on it.

"The saliva of demons can heal your wounds, hime-sama. You see? Your thumb is already healed. If you allow me to heal your injuries, then that will work as far as payment. Should you not receive an injury, simply cut your palm, and that will suffice. Though I must say, it seems you have been healed with demon's saliva before. There's a strong scent of it on your hands."

I starred at my thumb with disbelief, then held out my hands to examine them. That day on the roof. Mephisto used some sort of pink liquid to heal my hands. So then... it was demon's saliva? I looked up into the dragon's magnificent amber eyes and smiled slightly. "Yes, I have. Though at the time I didn't know what it was. Had it not been used I probably wouldn't have been able to use my hands again..." The dragon nodded, chuckling slightly. _"My name is Aokawa. Please take care of me."_ He bowed his head and maneuvered himself so that he was fully standing in front of me. I nodded slowly.

"How rude of me... I have yet to ask my master what her name is."

I blushed slightly. How polite he was! His accent was rather amusing though. It took me a second to process what he was saying, due to his Okinawa accent. "My name is Fukunuma Mana. It's an honor to meet you." I bowed to him, laughing slightly when he held his tail out for me to shake it, seeing as he didn't have any hands.

"A river spirit... This is truly amazing... I've never seen anything like it..." Neigauz-Sensei gaped at the noble creature. Aokawa nodded to him, before spinning around me in a seemingly protective embrace. "Phenomenal! Fukunuma-san, you have the absolute talent of a tamer!" I stared down at the blood smeared paper as I picked it up off of the floor, then back to Aokawa.

His scales looked as if they were made of real sapphire, and stretched to every inch of his body. His mane, which ran along the length of his spine was sky blue, and looked as if it had the texture of horse hair. Then there were his golden eyes, with intricate spindles of brown running through them. I smiled and ran my hand over his muzzle.

"You're very beautiful, Aokawa." This dragon could smile, because his lips upturned in a manner that was strangely pleasant. It must have been love at first sight, because instantly I loved everything about him. His beauty, his mannerisms, and most importantly, he didn't want to devour me whole! I didn't mind giving up a little blood in exchange for his services. It seemed worth it. _"Thank you, hime-sama. As are you."_

Neigauz-sensei cleared his throat.

"There seems to be a bumper crop of tamer prospects this year. There are only a few tamers amongst exorcists who can control demons and fight. They're pretty valuable." So then, we're all special cases? "Demons never follow humans who are weaker than themselves. And they are especially keen on attacking those without confidence. But like I said before, if the magic circle is broken, the familiar is relieved from its post and disappears. If you feel like your in danger because of your familiar, just tear the paper up."

"I don't want to have to get rid of you! Can I call you Nii-chan?" The green man spirit in Shiemi's hands jumped up and hugged her cheek. "Nii!" I smiled at them both. I turned my head to watch Kamiki tear up her paper and the two Byakko disappear. It felt like a vein had snapped on my forehead. She couldn't even take the time to get to know her familiar? Jesus, there was something wrong with this girl. I looked back at Aokawa with distain.

"Aokawa, I won't have to worry about you ever attacking me, right?" Of course, Demons were supposed to be tricky and deceitful, and his beautiful appearance made him even more suspicious. But to me, he seemed like an honest individual. He shook his head slowly. _"No. If anything, I benefit from this partnership, so there's no need to attack you. Protecting you on the other hand will be a 24/7 job, seeing as you're the Senka."_

"Shh! Not so loud!" I looked back at the guys, who all tilted their heads at me. "Mana-san? Who are you talking to?" I jumped slightly at Suguro. "You mean... you can't hear that voice?" I glanced over at Rin, who raised a questioning eyebrow at the other three boys. "What voice? Are you schizophrenic or somethin' Okumura?" What did this mean?

The only people who could hear Aokawa were Rin and I?

I glanced back at Aokawa. "Aokawa... Why is it that only Rin and I can hear you?" His brow seemed to raise in a confused manner as well. _"Only you should be able to hear me, Hime-sama. You are able to hear me speak because of your blood. The only ones who should be able to hear me are demons-"_ Aokawa's gaze snapped passed me, eyes wide, focused intently. "Aokawa?"

"Ouji-sama."

I looked to wherever he was looking. Rin looked discomforted. I couldn't tell if it was because he was being addressed as 'prince' or because of the sentence that had been cut off. Why _was_ he addressing Rin as a prince? His majestic gaze softened, and he nodded once. _"Very well then."_ I looked back and forth between the two of them. Was he communicating with Rin somehow?

He looked back to me. _"Will you be sending me back now, hime-sama?"_ I frowned at the piece of paper. "I would like to keep you around, but you're too big to take around the classrooms..." He unraveled himself to stand in front of me again. _"Understood. Until next time then, hime-sama, please be careful, and feel free to summon me whatever you may need me for."_ I nodded. "You're oddly nice... I was afraid you might eat me whole..." He chuckled lightly. _"Your blood lengthens the life of demons. Your flesh gives us eternal youth. Eternity sounds boring. I'd like to go to the after life someday, if one awaits me."_ "I see..."

I took the paper in my hands and smiled at him. "I'll see you next time!" He nodded and vanished into blue smoke once I ripped the paper.

"MANA-CHAN!"

I nearly fell over as Rin suddenly jumped in my face, eyes glittering. "That was so cool! A dragon of all things! You really would be the perfect tamer! Now was that so scary?" I looked away from him, my face heating. "Th-There's nothing special about it!"

"Mana-san." I looked up at Suguro. "For your first time summoning anything, and for even having the talent, summoning a dragon is a big deal. You heard Neigauz-sensei. Demons never obey humans who are weaker than themselves. If you can summon a dragon, you have to have some hidden strength or just be a naturally strong person." I looked down at the torn piece of paper in my hands. "How powerful are river spirits anyway?" Konekomaru raised his hand slightly. "River spirits have been around since the feudal era. They have life spans of up to 500 years and take on large bodies of water as their homes. They have power over water and each dragon has a unique ability, one that no other possesses. In a sense, their power is kind of like a finger print." I raised an eyebrow. "Really? But... What was Aokawa's power? Telepathy?"

Shima shook his head. "No, river spirits can usually communicate telepathically with other demons only. The fact that you can hear him speak means that you're special, or you're a demon, haha." I certainly wasn't a demon, and I knew why I could speak to him. As for why I could summon something so powerful compared to how…. er… _un_powerful I am, I could only chalk that up to my blood as well. "Well, whatever the case I'm sure I'll find out eventually. Right now- Why the hell is Shiemi carrying Kamiki's stuff?"

I recognized the small blonde female as she was talking to Kamiki down the hall, Kamiki suddenly shoving her bag into the smaller girls arms. I suddenly became enraged by this. "Now she's using Shiemi as her slave!" Before I could take off down the hallway to kidnap the poor girl, Suguro grabbed me by the back of the collar and sighed. "It's best not to get involved. Just let them be." I stared at him incredulously, reaching to loosen my tie so he wasn't choking me. "Suguro-kun, how can you just-" "Maybe it's not what we think, Fukunuma-chan! Let's just listen to Bon." I glared at Shima, one for cutting me off, and two for taking Suguro's side.

I pouted and folded my arms over my chest. "Pansies. All of ya."

"Oi! Are not!"

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><p><strong>*Trunchbull style- If you've ever seen the movie Matilda (which is an earlier movie from the early 90's) you may remember the scene where the evil principal, Ms. Trunchbull swings a little girl around by her pigtails and flings her into a tree :) XD I love that movie lmao.<strong>


	6. Naberius In The Bathroom

**Look~! You get two chapters in one day~! Don't you love me~?**

**:D**

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><p>The whole week I had seen Shiemi running around doing errands for Kamiki. Every chance I tried to take to talk to her, she told me she was busy and ran off. Maybe I would have a chance to talk to her once we started the camp. But right now... I have something else on my mind...<p>

"WHERE THE HELL AM I! AGH!"

I fell to my knees, utterly lost. Where the hell did everyone go! I was following Shima and Konekomaru, on our way to meet Suguro. I stopped to grab my cell phone because I had realized I'd dropped it a while back and told them I'd catch up. When I found it and tried to retrace my steps, I couldn't.

I looked down at my cell phone, browsing through my contacts quickly. That's right, I never got any of their numbers. DAMN IT. Wait... Mephisto's was still in here... I starred at the number for a few minutes before shoving the phone back into my pocket. No... I can't bother him if he's busy. And If I tell him I was stupid enough to get lost on my way to Sensei and Rin's dorm, then I was never going to hear the end of it. Now let's see... That rose bush looks familiar... I snapped out of my trance when I heard my cell phone ringing. I pulled it out quickly and glared at the number.

"Damn it... It's Mephisto..."

I hit the answer button but said nothing.

_:Hime-chan~!:_

"Speak of the devil and he shall come**..."

_:I'm sorry? I didn't catch that.:_

"N-Nothing, whaddya want?"

I knew he was lying. That bastard heard everything without missing a beat,

_:Yukio tells me Shima and Konekomaru lost you on the way to the dorms and you're no where to be found. Need a little hint?:_

"No! I don't need your help so just-"

_:Look to the right~.:_

I heard the dial tone beeping. That son of a bitch hung up on me!

Well, for shits and giggles let's look to the...

...Right...

"...Oh..." Across the bridge to my right was the abandoned dormitory, and everyone standing outside of it. I heard sensei call out to me in the distance, and bolted down the bridge, shouting apologies to everyone.

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><p>After doing worksheets and studying for three hours straight, sensei finally told us to turn in our papers. I shook out my hand that had started to cramp up from all the writing and passed my worksheet to Rin. He stood up and wobbled around a bit, looking fried from the assignment. Sensei smiled slightly at him. "Alright, I suppose that's enough for today. Tomorrow get up at 6 o'clock and we'll go over answers to our question and answer session for an hour before school starts." I wiped the sweat from my forehead with a tissue before sliding my head band out and shaking my head to set my bangs back in place.<p>

"You still have that head band, Mana-san?" I looked at Suguro under my eyelashes as I pulled my hair out of its ponytail. "Of course. Why do you ask?" He scratched his face and looked away. "It's just... I thought you would have gotten rid of it, or left it somewhere to collect dust..." I glared at him, massaging the back of my head with one hand. "Do I really seem that cruel to you? Jeeze, I need to work on my attitude..." He jumped, yet again, not catching my teasing grin. "No, it's not that! I didn't think you cared or anything..." I smirked and yawned. "Why should I? Was it a token of your love for me?" His face burned and he glared at me. "As if!" I stood up and stretched, encouraging him to do the same. "You're my best friend, of course I'd keep it! In fact, I've been meaning to give something to you too." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a yellow and black striped bracelet. I used to make these with Emi all the time, and I figured I'd make one for Suguro too, seeing as he's been awesome, and I felt bad for slapping him the other night.

He stared at me blankly for a moment. I grabbed his wrist, holding it up while I slipped the bracelet over his large hands, pulling the strings to tighten it when I had gotten it on his wrist. I put my hands on my hips and grinned up at him. "There~! And see, the colors match your skunk hair!" I laughed while he yelled at me. He died down for a moment to hold his hand up to the light and admire my work. "Thanks, Mana-san. It's great." He smiled down at me. I felt happiness well up within me, knowing that he liked it. "Hey, love birds, don't start making out on the tables now." Our faces burned as we glared at the grinning Shima, who Konekomaru was taking refuge behind. Not one of his smartest ideas seeing as we were ready to kill the pink haired male.

"Paku-chan, let's take a bath!"

I flinched at the sound of Kamiki's sugar-coated voice cutting through our moment. "Um.. okay..." Shiemi perked up and stared after them. "A-A bath! I'll come too!" I rolled my eyes. Kamiki has her totally wrapped around her finger. I wasn't going to join, but on the other hand, maybe I could finally talk to Shiemi about Kamiki.

"I think a bath sounds nice. My shoulders are stiff from slouching the whole time~." I stretched my arms over my head and cracked my back. I followed a bit further behind them and turned the corner just in time to hear Shima's plotting to peek at us. I flinched and walked back into the room, glaring daggers at Shima.

"You're supposed to be a Buddhist priest!" Shima smiled slyly and leaned in to Suguro. "Oh c'mon, don't you wanna see those sweet C-cups Mana's hiding?" Suguro paused for a minute. Was that idiot actually considering...? "What the hell! How do you know what Mana's cup size is!" "Well you see, I have this natural talent for knowing a girl's bra size with just one look. My guess is, Mana is a 36 C, Kamiki is a 34 B, Shiemi is a 36 C, and Paku is-"

My slipper effectively made contact with his face with enough force to knock him against the wall. Suguro and Konekomaru flinched at my flushed, angered face as Shima sat up quickly. "Ah! F-Fukunuma-chan, I wouldn't dream of peeking on you! You're my friend so-" I threw my other slipper at him, hearing a cracking noise as it hit him in the nose. "Oh bull shit! If I see you in there your ass is grass! Got it?" He swallowed hard and nodded slowly. "Good boy." I turned on my heel and stormed out. I wasn't entirely pissed about the fact that he was planning to peek. I knew he wasn't going to. It was the fact that he had gotten my measurements perfectly that miffed me the most.

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><p>I snuck into the bath house so that Kamiki and Paku wouldn't notice me and took a shelf behind the one they were using. Where did Shiemi go? Don't tell me that witch made her run another errand. I slipped off my shoes and socks, placing them in the cubical before taking off my sweater. "I'm relieved the bathroom is clean. I mean, the entire place looks like a ghost hotel." I paused while slipping my skirt off, glancing behind me. Well, I honestly couldn't disagree with her there...<p>

"Izumo-chan... weren't you being mean to that girl?"

I stood up straight.

"Huh? Well, yeah. But that's because she's not really my friend. It's her fault for always listening to me, it's not like I'm telling her what to do." Even so, what kind of person takes advantage of someone like that? Kamiki really was a demon... "What about Mana-chan?" I jumped and stood still for a moment. Kamiki didn't say anything for the longest time. "What about her? She's so stuck up and thinks she's better than everyone because she gets along with the guys. She thinks she knows everything, when she doesn't. I don't know... just her whole persona annoys me." Glad to know we're on the same page, asshole. "Is it because she's similar to you?" She was silent for a moment.

"Why do you keep bringing that up? Maybe she has a similar childhood to mine, but it's only slightly similar. Besides, I doubt she could ever completely understand me... Oh! Put, Paku-chan, you're different! You're my best friend! I'm really glad I got to go to exorcist school with you!" I frowned. That was probably it. No one could ever fully understand Kamiki. The reason she always calls me out and picks on me is probably because we're so similar that she's trying to drill the understanding into me, without even realizing it herself.

"B-but I can't keep up in the classes at all..."

"That's okay! I'll protect you!"

Kamiki didn't seem like a bad person when she was with Paku at all. Maybe she wasn't. Maybe it was all just a facade. "You can just stay with me forever, Paku." There was a stiff silence. "Hey... Izumo-chan... I plan on quitting the cram school." I would have jumped out and begun questioning Paku myself if I hadn't remembered I was supposed to be hiding. "Huh...? Paku-" "I don't understand the classes at all... and I don't think I could fight back if my life were in danger..."

"B-But that's why I said-"

"No. That doesn't make sense. I don't like someone who makes a fool out of earnest people. I'm sorry, but you aren't a true friend." I looked down and smiled sadly. Maybe that was all Kamiki needed. A good friend to put her into place.

I suddenly smelled an awful stench. The smell of rotting flesh. I looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from, when I heard a moan. I looked up at the cieling and felt my heart jolt. "What the fuck!"

"KYAAAAAAAAAAA!"

I ran around the corner, where Paku was on the ground underneath a naberius, and stood next to Kamiki. "_Mana!_ How long have you-" "We need to treat her wound immediately! A mashou of that caliber could kill her within a few minutes!" Kamiki nodded and pulled out her diagram from her clothes. I paused, feeling like a fish out of water. "What are you waiting for dumbass! Call your familiar!" She shoved an extra diagram into my chest. I quickly grabbed it, trying to remember the words I used the other day.

"I ask the grace of Inari, the god of harvest..."

"I offer you my blood, the elixir of life..."

"...to fulfill my prayers!"

"...answer my request and stand before your master-"

The naberius whipped its tail out and sliced my paper in half, also managing to slice my hand and neck in the process. I fell to my knees and held my aching hand. "Mana!" I stared down at the floor, where the blood from my hand was dripping. "I'm fine, focus on helping Paku-chan!" She nodded and looked at the byakkos. "I'll save her... Paku-chan is my only friend!" She took a step forward, and her face suddenly changed. The two byakko glanced back at her with an eerie nonchalance.

"Thou... why doest thy heart be in that state?"

I flinched at the tone of the byakko's voice.

"Thou art not worthy of us!"

"Kamiki!"

I moved, ready to shove her out of the way, when a foot stepped into my vision and a hand punched the first one in the jaw, stopping its attack. I looked up at Rin, who looked pissed as anything. "Oi, Rin!" He glared down at Kamiki, who scooted back in surprise.

"Tear up the paper! Dammit, the paper!" Kamiki quickly tore it to pieces, the two byakko disappearing in the smoke.

"Rin, be careful! This is a naberius! There's some sort of liquid dripping from its second head that will burn you instantly if it touches you! It's tail is like a whip, it can cut you up pretty bad!" He nodded to me. "Right. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks." He paused and starred at my hand and shoulder. I caught his gaze and waved it off. "It's alright! It's not a mashou so i'll be fine! Right now, focus on covering your ass!" I rolled out of the way just in time, avoiding a hit from the naberius again. I cringed from the impact against the cubicles, shaking it off and standing in front of Kamiki. I had no idea what I was doing, but I had to do something.

I turned towards the door way and noticed Shiemi run in. "Ah! Paku-san!" Shiemi ran to her, ignoring or not even noticing the large demon, and dragging her away from the danger. The creature reached out to her, but I picked up a wooden wash bucket and chucked it at the demon's head. It turned around and howled at me.

"Senka..."

My body seemed to shut down on me in that moment. I starred up at the demon in fear, unable to move under its gaze.

"Give me your blood..."

It suddenly sprang forward, running at me with its hand outstretched. I had forgotten Rin was there. He seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in and took the red bag off of his back, hitting the demon over the head with it and stepping between us.

"C'mon you disgusting piece of crap! I'll be your target!" I gawked at him "Are you insane!" I watched as the demon shook off the pain and slowly looked at Rin. _"Ouji-sama..."_ What is with these demons and this prince Rin shit anyway? This is the second time I've heard it, and from a different demon. And why is it only demons? First that vision in the hallway, then his ability to hear Aokawa, and now he's being called a prince?

This was starting to become too much.

The naberius grabbed his face and threw him through the glass wall. "Rin!" I stood up to run after him, but something grabbed my ankle. Kamiki starred up at me harshly. "You're injured and you don't have a way to summon your familiar. Currently, you're just as useless as I am. Okumura will be fine, he has his sword, so don't be an idiot at a time like this!" In any normal situation I would have retaliated, but instead I nodded and knelt with her. She was scared shitless, far more than the rest of us.

"Paku-san... It looks like she's been burnt!" Shiemi was unbuttoning Paku's shirt, her familiar dancing around on her shoulders as it analyzed the wound as well. "It's a mashou! In a few minutes the pain will overwhelm her and she'll die!" Kamiki chocked back on yelling at the blonde. "Then we need to administer a treatment immediately!" Shiemi examined the wound for a moment longer, before sitting upright and snapping her fingers. "For the treatment of burns I need Sancho-san!"

...

"Who...?" Kamiki and I asked at the same time. What the hell was she talking about? This was no time to be stupid! "If only there was some Sancho-san here..." The greenman jumped up immediately. "Nii!" It hopped off of Shiemi's head and suddenly sprouted a large green plant from its stomach. "Wow, Nii-chan! It's Sancho-san!"

"That's aloe!"

I flinched at Kamiki's tone of voice. She suddenly stood up and ran off somewhere in the locker room. I stood shakily and ran after her. "Kamiki-san! Where are you going!" I felt light headed and remembered my shoulder was bleeding profusely. I leaned against a shelf and flinched when they shook from the sound of gun fire.

Okumura-sensei finally came.

I rested my back against the shelf and exhaled. My shoulder was warm and stung a little, but it wasn't as bad as it was before. The pain in my hand was gone, but it hurt when I tried to move my fingers.

"Mana-san."

I looked over and looked away quickly as Rin approached me without a shirt on. I couldn't help but stare at his torso, which was oddly toned and broad for someone his age, and it made me wonder how he could look so scrawny in his uniform. Seeing as he had caught my staring, I covered my face with my hands to shield my eyes and hide my burning face. "Where the hell is your shirt! Don't come over here, idiot!"

"Only idiots call idiots, idiots, idiot! Er- wait, that didn't come out right..."

All was silent for a moment when he reached out and picked me up, setting me on my feet. I grabbed onto him for support so as not to fall. He inhaled deeply. Slightly creeped out by this, I leaned away from him. "Erm... Mana-san... You should let Yukio look at your wounds." I let my injured left hand fall and used my right hand to massage my temple. "Yeah, I'm going to..." I leaned against the wall, trying to rid myself of the on coming headache.

"...And while you're at it you should button up..." I jumped and looked down at myself. I was only wearing my white uniform shirt over my white lace underware. My face was on fire, and I fell down to the floor in a fetal position. He grabbed his nose and glared to his left, so he couldn't look at me. "Ah! Don't do that I can see your panties!" My face burned, and I felt like crying out in frustration from all the craziness. "Don't look at me then!" His face was flushed the same dark red as mine. I sat up and turned to pull my skirt out of the cubicle I had been using, but I was having trouble getting it on because of my hand. I fumbled with it some more, before giving up. "Screw it, I'll just kill anyone who comments."

Rin scratched his nose, and walked out with me. "Fukunuma-san! You're covered in blood!" Okumura-sensei ran up to me, first aid kit in hands. I watched two exorcists carry Paku out on a stretcher and felt my heart drop. "It's just my hand and shoulder, sensei. It's technically not a mashou." He exhaled and smiled nervously. "Well thank goodness for that. Here, let me look at them." Sensei moved my shirt collar aside and was examining it. "It's really deep. You may need stitches for it. Let's get it cleaned up."

"I'm just amazed he isn't getting a boner from all this." I whipped around to glare at Shima. This was awkward enough without weird comments from him. Suguro and Konekomaru spun him around to face the opposite direction, like they had. Sensei had bandaged my hand and had me hold a rag over my shoulder, then we all turned to Rin.

"Nii-san... why were you half naked and hiding behind the shelves with Fukunuma?"

The other boys and Shiemi turned to stare at him too. Konekomaru and sensei looked exasperated, Shima was grinning while restraining Suguro, who looked like he was going to rip poor Rin's head off, and Shiemi was blushing. Meanwhile, I just stood and starred awkwardly. "I-It's not what you think..." Rin scratched his nose and looked around. "Um... manhood was beckoning me..."

Cue face palm.

* * *

><p><strong>**"Speak of the devil..." I found this rather ironic and used the full thing purposely as a pun for the original Mephistopheles, who was the devil's advocate in Faustian lore X) Thank you wikipedia! :D<strong>


	7. Punishment

So, earlier today I decided to look up the meaning of Mana's name.

'Mana', In japanese, means 'Affectionate, love'. Originally I just picked the name Mana because I liked it and thought it sounded cute... well, the meaning is nice, but it rather contradicts her personality... and I also looked further into the meaning and discovered that 'Mana' is a Hawaiian name meaning 'Psychic gifts.'

._.'

Erm... anyway... I spent the whole day writing this... and now I'm off to write the next chapter as I watch Jeff Dunham...

enjoy~!

* * *

><p>I woke up the next morning to someone knocking on my door. I pulled the blue comforter over my head, in an attempt to block out the noise. They would go away eventually. I waited a few minutes for the knocking to cease, and rolled over, snuggling in the blankets while watching that I didn't brush my neck. I was completely sore from the cuts and could barely move as it was. I heard a muffled tapping that was slowly getting louder, and suddenly a loud bang echoed in the small space of my room. I shot up and turned over, falling out of the bed and getting tangled in my sheets. I stared up at the purple haired girl in horror as her crimson eyes seemed to glow in the early light of dawn.<p>

"K-Kamiki-senpai...? Wait... you're here... alone... this early in the morning...? OKUMURA-SENSEI KAMIKI'S TRYING TO ASSASINATE ME!"

Kamiki dove on me and covered my mouth, annoyance clear on her face. "Shut the hell up! Are you insane! They aren't even awake yet!" I felt tears well up in my eyes as she knelt on my hand. I pointed and she quickly got off, a sharp gasp escaping her. "S-sorry..." "Me too..." She unraveled me from the sheets and exhaled, getting up and poising herself on the empty bed across from mine. I sat up slowly, rubbing the moisture from my eyes. "Why the hell are you here anyway?" Her eyes downcast to the floor. "It's just... I wanted to... you were ready to save Paku... I could have protected you, but I failed to do so. And because of my ignorance you were hurt. Thank you. And I'm sorry."

I starred at her, bewildered.

"Kamiki-senpai..." I really couldn't believe what I was hearing. "I know you were there with Paku and I, listening. There's no way you could have gotten there so fast if you weren't." I thought about lying, but what was the point? She would call me on it anyway. I just nodded, encouraging her to go on. "Paku told me your story... She told me after we got into that fight. I suppose in some ways... we are similar... and I can understand where you're coming from when you're trying to make friends with everyone." She held out her hand to me, and I flinched.

"I promised myself that I would start having patience and giving others a chance. I don't like myself, and I want to change. So let me start by saying, I don't like you." I replied on instinct, deadpanning at her bluntness. "Tell me something I don't know." She flushed and glared at me. "...I don't like you... but... I don't want to keep going on with all this hostility between us. We're going to have to work together someday, since we both have potential as tamers. So, instead of being enemies... let's be rivals." My laugh seemed to catch her off-guard. "To be honest, I already consider you my rival, Kamiki-senpai. And y'know, you don't need to apologize for last night. You were focused on saving your friend. You had the right mindset." I took her hand and shook it once. She helped me to stand, before standing up herself. "Well, I guess I'll be going then... that's all I wanted to say..."

When she reached the door, I remembered something. "Hey, senpai?" She spun around on her heel, glaring at me with a heated face. "Quit calling me that. I'm in the grade below you, quit degrading yourself by addressing me as your senpai!" I smirked. "M'kay, Izumo-chan. What's your favorite color combination?" She raised a pumpkin seed eyebrow at me, confusion decorating her porcelain-like features. "C'mon, just answer it. You can consider it a fact you could use against your rival. Mine is brown and ivory~." She scowled at me before turning back to open the door. "That's so stupid. Purple and black are a much better combination. I really don't understand you." I sat down on my bed, picking up a hair tie and tying my hair in a ponytail, similar to her own.

"I think you have a long ways to go before you can understand me in the slightest. But that's fine. If we're gonna be rivals then we should, like you suggested, try to be a little patient with each other, right?" She let out a soft sigh and looked at me over her shoulder, smirking. "If you tell anyone what I told you I'll kill you." I stood up and stretched, being careful not to open the cut on my neck. "You may not like yourself, Izumo. But you should. Be proud of yourself and who you are. The person who I just had that touching heart to heart with is someone I could get along with~." She snickered and started walking out. "You really are stupid, Mana. And don't address me so casually. We're still rivals." She shut the door and I smiled. With some time, I think I really could get along with Kamiki.

* * *

><p>I changed into a white dress shirt and slipped on my skirt, leaving behind my stockings, tie, and sweater so that I didn't over heat. With June fast approaching, the weather was well into the 70's, so I figured it would be okay. I tied my hair into a messy side bun and went off to search for sensei to help me change my bandages. I caught a glimpse of him in Kamiki and Paku's room, injecting something into Paku's arm. Rin and Kamiki were standing off a little ways, watching silently. I poked my head in and smiled. "Hey there! How're you holding up, Paku-chan?" She smiled weakly from her bed. "Well, Mana-chan. What happened to your neck?" I touched where the cut was and grinned sheepishly. "Oh, it's nothing, just a little scratch. But y'know, you were really something! You stayed strong after that naberius attacked you, it was really amazing!" She blushed and shook her head. "No. If anything, Okumura-kun and Okumura-sensei are the amazing ones." Sensei smiled softly, while Rin giggled and threw his arms behind his head.<p>

"You should be just fine now. In two or three more days your fever will go down and you'll be good as new." Paku smiled weakly. "Thank you very much Okumura-sensei." He stood up and rubbed his knees, fatigued from kneeling on the floor. "Not at all. Well then, be sure to get plenty of rest." Rin leaned over and smiled at her. "Get well soon." Her cheeks dusted over with color. "Thank you Okumura-kun."

Rin turned around and beamed at me, grabbing my wrist and dragging me out of the room with him. I felt flustered by this and ripped my hand away from him immediately, muttering about how dumb he was. "Mana-chan, How's your shoulder holding up?" I rotated it in circles, before hearing the crack I was waiting for. "Good. It's a bit sore from the stitches, but it feels great compared to yesterday. Sensei really is a phenomenal doctor." Rin nodded vigorously. "Of course he is! He's gonna be the best doctor there is! No, he already is!"

I side stepped away from him after his outburst, staring at his beaming smile weakly. "You must really love Yukio, huh?" His cheeks pinked slightly as he scratched the bottom of his nose. "Of course I do! He's my little brother, and the only family I have left. You should have seen us when we were kids, I always had to run to his rescue. Though nowadays he's been saving my ass. Which kinda pisses me off." I smiled and grabbed my arm, rubbing it. "I wish my big brother and I were so close... He left to go to college in America a few years ago. He's finished university and has a law major now, but it's been two years since we've last seen or heard from him." He snickered. "That's funny. You seem more the only child type, rather than a little sister." I scratched my nose and shrugged. "Yeah, I get that a lot. Then again, people say that Yukio seems more likely to be the older brother." he snapped his head in the other direction, glaring at the wall. I laughed at his sudden mood swing, then thought about what he had said about his family.

"If... If you don't mind my asking... you said he's the only family you have left... and didn't you say your sword was a memoir of your dad?" He stopped walking, causing me to stop a little further ahead of him. he smiled and swung the sword holder off of his back, holding it gingerly in his hands. I stared in wonder at the gentle look on his face. "My dad died saving me when he was being possessed by Satan. He told me to keep this sword with me at all times, and use it to protect not only myself, but those who I care about. It's very precious to me. Y'know, when I think about it, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have decided to become an exorcist." I felt the pang of shock hit me like a bullet. I looked down at my feet and folded my hands together, feeling guilty for asking such a thing.

"So... Why exactly did you decide to become an exorcist?" His gentle expression suddenly became fierce. Determined. His eyes blazed with a fire I hadn't seen before. "To kick Satan's ass. And also, to become the Paladin, like my old man." I couldn't help but gawk. "Are you insane? You're gonna take on a powerful demon like that and expect to survive to become the highest ranking exorcist?" He deadpanned at me. "Well, not in that order. First, I'll be the Paladin. _Then_, I'll kick his ass." I stared at him a moment longer before shaking my head and chuckling. "You're really something, Rin-kun..."

"Aaaaahhh?"

He ran up to me and grabbed my shoulders, his face a little too close to mine for comfort. My face felt like someone had thrown acid in it. "Just now! You called me 'Rin-kun', right?" I sputtered, tripping over my tongue while trying to find the correct words. "W-Well no... Er, I mean yeah... why the hell does it matter...?" He started laughing. "I don't really know, but it makes me happy! Before you couldn't stand me, and now you're calling me by my name! Even going as far as to add '-kun' at the end!" I shrugged him off and turned away from him, yanking my hair out of its bun to hide my red cheeks from him.

"Congratulations, you just demoted yourself back to Okumura!"

"N-No, Mana-chan, wait-"

"That's Fukunuma to you, Okumura!"

"Gaaaahhhh!"

* * *

><p>When we got down to the cafeteria, everyone was eating and reading books.<p>

Suguro looked up from his book and stood up immediately, knocking over his plate, surprising himself, and choking on his eggs. Rin and I just starred at him as Shima began pounding him on the back. He shoved him off and loosened his tie. "Mana-chan! How are you feeling?" I giggled at Suguro before directing my gaze to Shiemi, taking a seat between she and Yamada, who were across from the boys, Yamada playing a video game."Better, that's for sure." I looked up at Suguro, who froze the minute our eyes made contact. "Suguro-kun, what the hell is wrong with you?" He swallowed the, what I assume, left over egg and sat down quickly. "I was shocked to see you is all." His cheeks darkened, causing me to smile.

I was about to take a bowl of octopus sausages, when it suddenly shifted to my right. "What the hell...?" I reached out for it again, this time it moved to my left. It became a game of cat and mouse as I shot up from the table and attempted to chase after the bowl. "Um... Mana..." Suguro stood up, getting ready to assist me, when the bowl flew from the floor and landed on the table. I grumbled, now pissed at the stupid thing, before plopping back into my seat. An enormous plate suddenly dropped from the ceiling and landed in front of me. Ham, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and oranges were piled on top of it into a fashionable arrangement. I starred at it in wonder.

"I-Is this mine...?" The guys all marveled at the edible bouquet of breakfast foods that sat before me, the vapors from it rising and perking everyone's interest, even Yamada, who looked up from his game. "Damn! That little demon must really like you!" I raised an eyebrow at Suguro. "Huh? There's a demon in here? Should I, like, do something...?" Rin took off his shoe and threw it at the counter. "Ukobach!" A little red and yellow imp-like creature danced from foot to foot, giggling. "Now she's not gonna have room for the lunch I made her you bastard!" I grumbled and glared at the food. As wonderful as it looked, just the sheer amount of it made me want to throw up. I pushed it to the center of the table. "Here guys, help me out." Shima and Suguro didn't hesitate in grabbing a bit of everything off of the plate.

"Oi, Rin. It's alright. I'm not gonna be able to eat this much, so I'll just share it. You can have some too, c'mon." He mock cried and took a seat next to me. "Speaking of which, Fukunuma-san, I think it would be better if you stayed here for a few days to recuperate. Also, you should avoid gym class. I'll have a doctors note filled out for you when you go back to school." I stuck my hands up. "Erm, that may not be necessary, Sensei. I can have Aokawa heal it for me." He raised an eyebrow. "Aokawa can heal it for you?" I nodded. "It's difficult to explain. I'll tell you later."

Ukobach jumped from the counter and scurried over to my seat, jumping into my lap and hugging me. Everyone seemed to freeze, fear expressed clearly on their features. I myself didn't know what to do. Sure, the thing was kind of... cute, dare I say. But it was still a demon... I pat its head awkwardly, picking it up under the arms and holding it up. Its pitchfork-like tail twitched back and forth as it grinned at me. I smiled slightly. "Hey... he's kinda cute..." Rin made a disgusted noise and looked away from me. "Traitor."

Sensei turned to me with a perfect smile on his face. "Well, Fukunuma-san, Nii-san talks about you to Ukobach all the time. It's no wonder he likes you so much." "YUKIO!"

I shuddered and glared at the younger boy, causing him to squeal. "I... You know what, never mind, I don't even..." Ukobach grinned at me and put a fork in my good hand before hopping off of me. I stabbed a slab of ham off of the large entree dish, shoving it into my mouth.

"Idtadashimash! Nom, nom..."

* * *

><p>Suguro decided to accompany me to the roof while I summoned Aokawa to heal my wounds. We sat on the edge of the roof together, dangling our legs over the edge. "So, is Aokawa's power the ability to heal?" I snorted, taking out the paper and staring blankly at him. "Nah. He told me he could heal my wounds my licking them, but believe me, it's not a special power." "But... I've never heard of a dragon who could heal wounds by licking them. What else could explain it?" I looked away from him and flipped the paper around in my hands.<p>

"Hey, Suguro-kun... Have you ever heard of the senka?"

He raised an eyebrow at me, kicking his heels against the wall. "Sure I have." I looked down over the edge of the roof, feeling rather melancholy since I touched on the subject. "What have you heard?" He blinked at me before putting his arms behind his head, laying back on them while kicking his feet lightly over the edge.

"A human girl is born once every hundred years who has the power to grant demons power. Her blood lengthens a demon's life and heals them, her flesh gives a demon eternal life, and her virginity gives demons other worldly powers. Some say her power goes away once she looses her virginity, and some say she looses her power once she reaches a certain age. Others say she never lives long enough to prove the myths true. It's kind of a sketchy story. I've heard only demon mythology experts know the true story, but then again, all they study is myths, so it wouldn't make sense for them to know the whole truth. I've also been told that only the Vatican and Miko's know whether or not she's real. I don't think much of it. After all, it's just an old myth."

I starred at the paper some more, my vision un focusing for a minute as I spaced out. "A myth..." He let out a short chuckle. "What? Are you going to tell me you're the senka now?" I punched him in the forehead, catching him off guard. "Why did I even bother asking?" I scooted back and stood up, pulling my hair back into a bun and standing off towards the center of the roof.

"Hang on a sec... are you being serious...?" I bit down on my thumb, smearing it across the paper and speaking Aokawa's mantra. The same blue smoke from the other day coiled out of the diagram, before materializing into the magnificent blue dragon. He coiled around me as I unwrapped my hand, holding it out to him for him to lick. I looked back at Suguro, who stared in wonder. "You're a dumb ass." I stuck my tongue out at him, making his face burn in anger. "Why the hell do you have to joke like that! I swear, I don't get you sometimes..." As soon as Aokawa was finished healing my hand, I used it to grab the scissors I snuck out of my pocket and cut the bandaged around my chest and shoulder.

"Suguro-kun, I need your help cutting the stitches." he spun his head around to glare at me. "Are you nuts? No way." I glared right back, apparently encouraging Aokawa to glare as well. Then again, he couldn't drink my blood if the stitches were there. "Suguro-kun, he can't heal me if I have these stitches. It doesn't matter if you hurt me either, Aokawa's just gonna do his job." He swung his legs off of the edge and stood swiftly, approaching me with unease. He clasped his hands together, rubbing them vigorously and taking a deep breath. I reached over and smacked him upside the head. "C'mon ya schmuck, you have to deal with blood every day in our line of work. Now shouldn't be any different that the other times."

Suddenly his face twisted into anger. "Of course it does! It doesn't matter if that dragon can heal it or not, I don't want to see you cut or in pain! Last night in the bathrooms I nearly shit a brick when you were bleeding everywhere!" I stared at him, bewildered. "S-Suguro-kun..." He calmed down slightly, glaring at the cut that stretched from the center of my chest and curved up, barely touching my jugular. "If that thing had cut any closer, you could have died. God forbid I slip up and do what the naberius didn't." I couldn't help but smile at how concerned he was.

I reached over and grabbed his right hand, the one that still held the bracelet I made for him. "Suguro-kun, this cut would get in the way if I needed to fight. I just started the cram school too, I can't afford to let this drag me down. I trust you more than anything, and I know you won't slip up." He stared down at our hands. To reassure him, I entwined our fingers, giving his hand a tight squeeze. "I trust you, Ryuuji." That seemed to be all he needed. Aokawa moved out of his way as he took the small scissors from me confidently and pulled down my shirt slightly. We both turned a little red at this, but kept our composure.

I bit down on my lip when I felt the cold metal sting inside the wound while he made quick work of snipping the stitches. He suddenly stopped, trembling slightly. "O-Oi, it's bleeding a lot!" I growled at him, slapping a hand to my forehead. "God dammit Suguro, just pull the stitches out and hurry." With shaky hands, he carefully plucked the stitches out as he went along, throwing them behind him and off of the roof. When he reached my neck, he paused. I had to unbutton my shirt so that the blood didn't ruin it. "Suguro, hurry up." He stuck his tongue out slightly, concentrating as he cut the last few stitches. "O-Okay I'm done, but there's still a stitch le- AH!" I took the long black string that was sticking out of my neck and pulled it out, shuddering at how creepy it felt. I threw it down on the roof and quickly turned to Aokawa, who didn't hesitate to lap up the wound.

I exhaled in relief as the stinging died down slowly. "Thank you so much, Suguro-kun. That feels much better..." I turned my head to see how he was holding up and froze upon seeing him shuddering and staring at his bloody finger tips. Well shit, I just scared him for life. I put my hand on Aokawa's jaw. "Oi, Aokawa, how much longer do you have?" He lifted his head, licking his lips slowly as he stared at me with blood red irises. Funny, they were amber a minute ago. _"I'm done now. Would you like me to clean the fool's hands?" _I nodded crestfallenly. Suguro's reacting to the blood would have been comical if he wasn't currently having a panic attack. "Would you, please?"

Aokawa rose in the air, floating as he whipped past Suguro in the blink of an eye. Suddenly the blood on Suguro's hands was gone. He stumbled backward, emitting a yelp when he landed on his backside. "Oi! What the hell, your dragon tried to take my hands off!" Aokawa snorted, winding back around me and scowling while gagging. _"Does that child even wash his hands? Dear Draco, I'm never doing that again."_ I snickered, petting his nose. "It might just be because he's a normal human that he doesn't taste good to you." He nodded, spitting on the roof to his left. _"I pray that's all it is..." _I folded the diagram paper into a paper airplane and threw it up in the air. "Alright, your work here is done. Thanks, Aokawa." He unwound himself from me, shooting up in the air and ripping the plane with his teeth, disappearing in a plume of blue smoke.

I quickly buttoned up my shirt and grabbed Suguro's hand, yanking him up and holding onto his arms so he didn't fall over. "Yo, are you okay?" He nodded, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "Jeeze, you're taking this harder than I did, and I was the one being cut open." "Shut up. I hope you feel better." He shoved past me and began walking towards the stair well, nearly knocking Rin over as he bumped shoulders with him. Rin spun around and screeched something derogatory at him while I stared down at the floor, rubbing my arm. "H-Hey, your wounds are healed! That's great!" I looked up at him and shook my head, bolting past him to find Suguro.

* * *

><p>What the hell is going on?<p>

"Now then, have you all reflected on your behavior?"

Now, I myself am quite unsure of what happened. I had left to use the lav, because I had been holding in the piss wave that had hit me at about 10th period, and finally I just couldn't take it anymore. You know, after you get your first UTI, it gets even harder to hold it in- ...n-nevermind... um... anyway... Apparently I had missed something important, because when I walked into the room, Kamiki and Suguro were glaring at each other, with Rin standing between them, rubbing his shoulder. This class session's sensei was on his cell phone, speaking with Okumura-sensei on the other line in a rapid pace. The next thing I know, he's shoving my frozen form out of the doorway and glaring at the three in question, pushing up his glasses.

And now, I'm sitting with the rest of the class in our dorms, with an obnoxiously voluminous boulder crushing my legs.

"WHAT THE HELL DID _I_ DO?"

I glared daggers into sensei's head, beyond pissed. He merely smiled at me. "Well for one thing, earlier today in school, you punched a student out cold in the hallway. This is a rather suitable punishment, don't you agree?" My jaw dropped immediately, and I felt my cheeks heating. "Where the hell is MY justice! The damn sleaze ball was using a stick to lift my skirt! If anything, I should be getting a longer skirt and some stockings rather than a rock on my legs!" Suguro perked up, looking away dejectedly. "At least the rock will keep your skirt down…" I glared at him.

"Wh-Why are _we_ being punished...?" Sensei turned to Shima, smirking like a vampire about to sink its fangs into a sweet, juicy neck. "This is what is known as 'collective responsibility'. The aims of this training camp are two fold. Firstly to increase your abilities, secondly, to deepen your relations with fellow students." I scanned the room quickly. "Um... I don't know about you guys, but I like you all, and I want to get along with you... the question is... WHY THE FUCK CAN'T YOU DO THE SAME!" Kamiki snorted from my right and looked away. "I refuse to get along with these brutes." I reached over and grabbed her collar, feeling the rage blow ten fold. "These brutes are gonna kill you if you keep getting us into these situations, damn it."

"I'm afraid you'll have to." Sensei interrupted, adjusted his glasses yet again. "No exorcist can fight alone. Making use of one another's specialties and compensating for one another's weak points... fighting in a party of two or more is basic procedure for any exorcist. If you were to fall out in battle you would be sure to face collective responsibility far worse than this! I hope you all keep that in mind..." He started walking towards the door, a false smile gracing his features.

"Now then, I have a small mission that I need to go on... I should be back in three hours. However, considering the incident with the ghoul yesterday, I will be locking all entrances and exits in the building and putting up powerful wards, just incase." Suguro perked up and raised an eyebrow, his voice panicking slightly. "Locking the exits? How're we supposed to get out of here then?" Sensei waved his hand in dismissal. "There's no need. I would like for you to stay here as you are for the next three hours. See if you can't get along with each other and cool your heads off."

"Three hours? What is he, a monster?" Shima exhaled and slumped from my left, raising a hand to scratch the tuft of pink hair on his head. "What the hell is going on anyway? I'm being punished and I wasn't even there..." Needless to say, I was still pissed off. "Gah... I can't take this anymore... are you and that guy seriously related?" Rin frowned at Suguro and shrugged. "He's a good guy... deep... deep... deeeep... deeeeeeeeep down..."

All was silent for a moment or two. I took this brief silence to take a breath in and attempt to lower my increasing blood pressure. No use crying over spilled milk, just calm down and accept it. Take your punishment and it will be over as soon as you know-

"Well now, this is a fine mess someone's gone and gotten us into." I stared at Suguro and noticed how Kamiki flinched. "Dude, shut up!" I went ignored as Kamiki got in my way of looking at Suguro. "Says the brute who was manhandling me by the chest back there!"

Oh why the hell was I not surprised. "I should have known you would be the one to start an argument!" She whipped around and glared at me. "Shut up! You weren't even there, so what would you know?" Rin screeched in frustration, momentarily putting a pause to the argument. "Would you guys stop having fights with me in the middle?" He looked like he was getting ready to tear his hair out.

"You really are one nasty piece of work."

"Hah! I'm well aware of that, thank you. And?"

The bickering continued. I turned to Shima, who brought up a game of I-Spy to lighten the mood. I would have accepted, had the room had something other than shades of brown in it.

"You'll make every damn person around you run for the hills with that attitude!"

I myself remember saying something similar to Kamiki the day she insulted Rin and I. This time it seemed to have more of an impact on her. Her eyes looked glassy as I spun around to get a look at what was going on. Huh. Could it be she was just now starting to feel guilty?

The lights suddenly went out, and it was pitch black in the room.

The boulder rolled off my lap as I shot up, tripping over it and landing in something soft.

"AH! WHO IS THAT!"

Suguro?

"AH! The stone fell on my foot!"

Rin squawked, rocking back and forth while holding his foot.

I noticed that I had landed face first in Suguro's crotch and quickly got off.

"I-I'm so sorry Suguro-kun!"

"Never mention it again... Did he turn the lights off too?"

"No! That can't be!" I heard Konekomaru call in a frightened voice, standing up to move closer to the group. "Then... it's a black out?" Shima helped me lift the rock off my legs, helping me into a squatting position. "But what purpose would he have for doing this?" I asked, massaging my legs and raising an eyebrow.

"Look, there's lights outside so it can't be a blackout." We all followed Suguro's finger towards the windows, where the city lights shone proudly in the night atmosphere. "Is this the only building without power?" He stood up and walked towards the windows, putting his hand against them.

"Let's take a look~." Shima got up and made his way over to the door. "Shima, please be careful!" He grinned back at Konekomaru, giving him a thumbs up. "Heheh~. Not to worry Koneko-san, events like this always get me excited~." He opened the door, snickering. "A real test of courage~."

The door opened, and with a smile, he looked out. My hair stood on end as the stench immediately filled the room. A naberius stood there, breathing heavily in Shima's face. The boy shut it nonchalantly. "That's strange. I could have sworn I saw something." I slammed a hand down over my face and shot to my feet, shaking out the chattering of my joints and making a motion to run after him. "Shima you idiot get away from the door!" I ran over and grabbed his tie, dragging him back just as the naberius broke through the door. He screamed a few octaves higher than I thought possible, nearly shattering my ear drums. "It's the ghoul from yesterday!"

"Didn't he say he put up wards?" Suguro threw his arm out, signaling everyone to get back as far as they could. We all huddled behind him. I couldn't bring myself to let go of Shima's tie, even after he told me it was okay. Nothing felt okay. Everything was going so horribly wrong all of a sudden, it was almost unreal. It was at this moment in time that, for some odd reason, I remembered a time from my childhood. A time where I let my stupid big brother convince me that monsters like to lurk in the pitch black of night. I had slept with a night light until I was 12 because of him. The terror I had felt in that moment as a child seemed nostalgic now as I stare at the monster who had emerged from the pitch black of the hallway.

I jumped when Shima lightly took my hand, slowly plucking my fingers off of the slim piece of cloth. "Fukunuma-chan, calm down! Your hands are ice cold, and you're shaking. This isn't the time to panick, you've gotta snap outta this!" I slowly looked up at Shima, who was rubbing my fingers between his hands, attempting to warm them as he himself starred at the creature uneasily. His hands were just as cold as mine. I gripped his hand tightly and nodded, feeling beginning to come back to me. "Okay. Thanks, Shima." I had to be strong. We all had to be.

The lump nect to the naberius' head suddenly started to bulge at the stitches that were holding the patches of skin together. It suddenly exploded, splattering purple fluid all over the room. A few splotches of it his my cheek and got on my clothes. It felt hot, like bacon grease. I was quick to rub it off, but nothing came off on my sleeve. Shima suddenly doubled over and started coughing. I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong, but my breath caught in my throat, and I, too, began coughing.

"Nii-chan! I need Una-Una-kun!"

"Nii!"

Everyone peered up at the small blonde, whose familiar jumped from her palms. A large tree root suddenly began growing rapidly from Shiemi's familiar, knocking the demon back and creating a barrier infront of us. Rin and Suguro took a step forward, looking shocked. Shiemi giggled chidlishly and cuddled the greenman to her face in adoration, thanking it softly. She wobbled slightly where she stood, before falling to her knees, coughing. Rin stepped forward and rested a hand on her back. "Shiemi, are you okay?" She nodded, smiling weakly. "Yeah... it's just... suddenly I feel dizzy..."

"Ah... I feel hot..." Suguro started coughing, triggering a chain reaction from everyone else. I tried to ignore the dull throbbing in my temples and choked on another cough. "What's wrong with you guys?" Rin turned to look at everyone, an eyebrow raised in confusion. Why was it that he was the only one who wasn't coughing? "You mean the miasma isn't affecting you?" He didn't know what to say as Kamiki questioned him.

"...When Moriyama's stamina is done the barricade will dissapear. That's when we'll be in real trouble..." Suguro scratched his head, trying to think of something to do. Rin pulled out his cellphone, dialing in a number and putting it to his ear. "Dammit... I can't get a hold of Yukio." The lump, which was now a second head, howled in frustration as it manipulated itself further through the branches of the baracade. Rin pocketed his phone and straightened up, turning around to grin at us. "Two of 'em huh? Well then this will be easy. I'll draw them out and make them follow me. When they're gone you all run for it. If they don't follow me I'll see what I can do about finding help or getting the lights back on in here." I snapped my head away from Shima immediately, bewildered by his sudden change in mood and idiocy. "Are you crazy? They'll rip you to shreds!" He smiled at me softly, waving his hand in dismissal. "Don't worry. I'm stronger than I look."

He started making his way through the roots. Shiemi reached out and tried to grab him, but her fingers only grazed his leg. He didn't seem to notice. "Oi! You idio- HEY! Okumura, get back here!" Suguro ran over to the bushes, howling at him some more. I helped Shima to stand, making my way over to Shiemi to hold onto her and make sure she didn't lose her concentration. I looked through the bushes and saw something that caused me to cry out in shock. "FUCK! That thing just split in two! The one's going after Rin!" Suguro cursed, running up next to us to see for himself.

"We don't have any other option. I'm gonna try a recital." Shima perked up. "But, Bon, you don't know this thing's fatal verse!" He shook his head, a look of determination adorning his features. "I don't, no. But I do know that ghoul-type demon's fatal verse comes out of the gospel of St. John. So If I recite it all it'll have to respond to something!" Konekomaru stood beside him. "I know the first half of the book. If we split it in half, somewhere along the way we'll be able to find its verse before it breaks through." Shima pulled out his staff from his bag, snapping the two pieces together and taking a stance infront of Suguro and Konekomaru so that the demon didn't attack them. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the paper I needed to summon Aokawa.

I turned to Kamiki, who stood off in the far corner. "Senpai! Stay by Shiemi! I'm going to back Shima up!" She snapped out of her stupor and knelt down next to Shiemi as I stood. A small stick of thornes sprouted from the top of Nii-chan's head. I thanked Shiemi and the small creature, before pricking my thumb and smearing it over the seal.

"I offer you my blood, the elixir of life. Answer my request and stand before your master!"

The naberius suddenly screeched, whipping its tail against the floor, knocking me over. I fell on my butt and leaned back on my elbows. "Fukunuma-chan, are you okay?" I nodded, pushing myself up to stare at the paper that had fluttered to my feet. "What... What the hell..." I stood up, reciting the chant again, and again, and again. Nothing was working. "God damned... Stand before your master! Stand before your master! Aokawa!" Frustrated, I crumbled it and threw it out towards the middle of the roots, where the naberius paused in its struggle, and bent its head to sniff the paper.

My blood.

Oh shit.

It's tongue, like a long pink snake, slithered out of its mouth and unwrapped the paper, sticking to the bloody side and bringing it back into its mouth. It's dark onyx eyes suddenly changed color, turning a dark crimson. It let out a screech, louder than before, slamming its way through the roots. Nii-chan quickly attempted to put more roots in its path, but it continued to break through them. I fell to my knees. I couldn't summon Aokawa, and I didn't have anything else to fight back with. But, why the hell couldn't I summon Aokawa? Kamiki switched places with me and summoned her own familiars. I sat back next to Shiemi, who frowned at me lightly. "You did your best, Mana-chan." I bit my lip and glared at the demon. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Shiemi-chan..."

* * *

><p>It had been about twenty minutes since Rin left, and Konekomaru had finished with his reciting. "I-I wonder if Okumura-kun is okay..." Shima snickered and looked back at him with an uneasy smile. "C'mon Koneko-san! Now's not the time to be thinking negative thoughts!" I glared hard, trying to avoid thinking whatever Konekomaru might have been thinking as well. Rin would be fine. He would come back, alive and in one piece. I had to tell myself this atleast.<p>

Something soft brushed against my nose, and something heavy fell on my lap. Shiemi had passed out. I lifted her into my arms and gave her a light shake. "Shiemi-chan! Shiemi!" "Damn it, this isn't good!" Shima turned to look back at Suguro, who was still chanting. The monster roared, its tail flicking back and forth as it watched Suguro in interest. I held my breath and made sure to tuck my scabbed thumb underneath Shiemi's shoulder, to try and snuff out whatever stench the demon might have picked up.

The barrier disappeared, and the demon stood before us. Shima let out a cry, leaping forward and stabbing it in the shoulder. The demon knocked him out of the way with a large, clawed hand, slamming him against a wall in the opposite direction. I froze. I had to do something... Think fast Mana...

I carefully drug Shiemi over to the other side of the room, accidentally rubbing my cut open again and getting a small amount on her kimono. I disregarded it, and scanned the room, looking for something that I could use against it... Not far behind where the naberius stood were some large branches it had broken trying to get through Nii-chan's barrier. Shima was busy trying to fight it off and keep it away from Suguro. I quickly got to my feet, tucking and rolling, and landed in a squatting position as I grabbed a thick branch. The demon turned his head to me. I smeared some of my blood over the end of the bat and held it like a baseball player might, waving it slightly behind me.

"Oi, ugly! Come and get it!"

It's crimson eyes burned brightly as it inhaled.

_"SENKA!"_

I waited until it was close enough, before pulling back and smacking it as hard across its ugly face as I could. Though do to my lack of strength, I hadn't hit him nearly as hard as I needed to. It's head snapped hard to the left, and it stumbled slightly from the shock of the hit. It turned back to me, growling. The room sped past me like a thunder bolt as its clawed hand smacked me into the wall. I had dropped the stick and felt light headed. I reached to the back of my head and pulled back, looking at the blood that seemed to glow on my hand. The creature sniffed the air wildly. Suddenly, its head snapped over to Shiemi. It started to approach her, licking its teeth in hunger. Before it could lunge and attack her, I took the stick and ran for it, slamming the pointy end through its chest. I fell down across Shiemi's legs, watching as its blood spurted all over the place. This time, Shima came up behind it and whacked it around a few times before sending it flying at Suguro's feet.

"Bon is on the last chapter!" Konekomaru exclaimed, as he ran over to my side and sat me upward beside Shiemi, taking off his tie and folding it to apply it to the wound at the crown of my skull. Kamiki's familiars shot out of nowhere, and attacked the demon head on, damaging it severely. It reached out and made a motion to scratch them, knocking them into Kamiki. It grabbed Suguro by the hair and lifted him off the ground, breathing in his face. Suguro appeared to be shaking in its grasp, as he began to chant the last verse. "Please don't die Suguro..." I muttered, squeezing my eyes shut out of fear that he would fail.

Suddenly the lights came back on.

The naberius's head closed to shield itself from the light. "...even the world itself could not contain the books..." The demon held him higher, ready to decapitate him. "...That should be written!" The demon slowly disappeared in a black haze, and Suguro fell to the floor. Konekomaru left me to go to Suguro's side. He was shaken up terribly. "I-I... I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead..." We heard foot steps running up the hall. Could it be...?

Rin ran into the class, panicked. "Hey! Is everyone..." He noticed Suguro's frightened look. "...o...kay...?" Suguro's shaking came to an abrupt halt. "Y-y-y-y-y-you... where's the other...?" Rin raised an eyebrow, before giving a slightly bloody grin. "Him? Oh, I beat him! I see you guys handled your... hm?" I sat up as Suguro jumped up and clothes hankered Rin, sending him sprawling to the floor, gagging. "Are you suicidal! I nearly died back there!" Rin sat up, wide eyed and confused. "W-Wait are you trying to kill me- AGH!" He moved quickly and rolled away from Suguro before he could stomp on his stomach.

"Those guys are idiots." I smiled at the truth of Kamiki's statement. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the wall, keeping pressure on Konekomaru's tie as it restrained the blood. "Y'know... this would be considered pretty romantic if not for the chaos that went on... huh? Fukunuma-chan?" I looked up at Shima, who plopped down on the floor beside me, and deadpanned at his sparkly pink aura and sickeningly shoujo smile. "Dear God why are you such a creep, Shima?"

Foot steps echoed down the hallway. "What's going on in here!" Everyone stopped as Okumura-sensei and Neigauz-sensei entered the room. Rin stepped forward. "Yukio! He's an ene- URGH!" A pair of pink and purple stripped tights landed on his back, knocking him to the floor. "Oh! Excuse me~! Excellent work all you pages~!"

"Mephisto!" Rin and I screamed at the same time, glaring daggers into said demon. "TADAA~!" I seriously could have thrown up from the tone of his voice. "Of course, there was a reason why I, the chairman-" "We know who you are, asshole!" I cut him off, glaring. He glared right back at me over his shoulder before continuing. "...Would allow demons of that caliber into the school..." Our exorcist teachers from the cram school suddenly came out of a bunch of tiles on the floor. "These doctor sensei will treat your wounds." I whispered a small, "Holy crap..." before starring at a portly exorcist who made his way over to me with a first aid bag.

"That's right! Don't you see? This training camp doubled as the exorcist authorization exam!"

"WHAT!"

Everyone practically fell over. "While you were lodging together, I had these teachers posted to monitor you and act as judges. We tested all of you with a fine toothed comb~! Please look forward to tomorrow's announcement!" With this being said, I tried to stand up and take my shoe off quickly enough to throw it at him, but I had stood up too fast. The last thing I saw was the portly doctor scrambling to catch me as I fainted into his arms.

* * *

><p>"All right, I got the claw of the scaly dragon~. Equipping... Equipping..."<p>

"Shut up! I don't have a single damn thing to say to any one of you bastards!"

I slowly opened my eyes, sqeezing them shut a few times to rid myself of my blurry vision without prevail. All I could see were colors and shapes. One shape in particular suddenly became clear as it sat down on the bed I was laying in, grinning. "Hey, how're you feeling, Mana-chan?" I blinked up at the boy sleepily. "...Rin? What happened?" He scratched his nose, looking downward for a moment. "Ah, right. You hit your head saving Shiemi from the naberius and passed out afterward. We're in the dorm infirmary right now." I looked across the room, where I saw a blur of yellow. "Shima-san tells me that the naberius would have killed Suguro-kun and I if you hadn't stabbed it to slow it down. Thank you very much, Mana-chan." I looked away, rubbing my eyes. "Yukio gave everyone an injection to get rid of the miasma, so you shouldn't be coughing anytime soon." I nodded to Rin and sat up slowly. Suguro came into my vision next to help me sit up while Rin walked over to where Shiemi's blur was.

"Mana. They're going to let us know if we're going to be exwire's tomorrow." I grumbled and grabbed Suguro's face in my hands, squishing his cheeks together to make his lips pop out. "I know, I heard everything before I blacked out." I frowned and pulled my hands back, putting them on my temples and attempting to massage my headache away. "Shiemi has a sure fire win, if anything. She did an awesome job with the barrier. Rin, too." My vision had improved slightly. I could make out Rin perking up. "Wh-What do you mean?" I smiled slightly, propping my pillows up behind me. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I really believed Rin was gonna die. It really put my mind at ease when he came back in one piece with barely any damage. You've gotta be something else, taking on a demon like that and making it back in one piece. You're amazing, Rin-kun." He giggled, leaning back in his chair with his arms behind his head. "I-It's nothing, really!"

"Okumura-kun, how did you manage to beat that ghoul?" Rin swung his sword in front of him and caressed it carefully. "Ah... that... I just stabbed it with my sword..." I raised an eyebrow. Suguro jumped up, glaring at him. "Whaddya mean you just stabbed it with your sword? That's too vague!" Rin was laughing nervously, until he had caught me starring at him. So it seemed that I wasn't the only one being vague. He was hiding something about himself as well. I was curious to know, but I decided not to speak out about it. Not yet, anyway.

When we first started talking, the day of the lab in Okumura-sensei's class, he hit me and gave me a nosebleed. His eyes were glowing, and he sounded as though he were... growling... When we went out into the hall the day I got into that argument with Suguro, I touched him and saw... well, not Rin, but a demon covered in blue flames, which I still don't understand why. On multiple occasions whenever I was cut or bleeding, he acted out of character and would go into a trance. Demons called him 'Prince' whenever they spoke with him, much like how they referred to me as a 'Princess'. And just today, Rin single handedly defeated a naberius... well... half of a naberius, but still... I had a hunch that Okumura Rin wasn't human... but I wanted to see if I could gather some more evidence before coming to any hasty decisions. Especially in my current state.

"Um... is there something on my face?" Rin reached up and with both hands, rubbed his face ferociously, going as far as to run them through his hair so that when he stopped, it stuck up at odd angles off of his skull. I blinked at him and shook my head.

"Just stupidity, Rin. Just stupidity..."


	8. Outcome

**All I've got to say is...**

**Suguro's got some big ass feet.**

**I can imagine them being, like, really hairy...**

**Can't you?**

* * *

><p>It was on the morning after the naberius attacked that we were called to the main hall to learn who became exwires and who would remain behind until next semester. I had Suguro escort me back to my room when the doctors told me I would be okay to sleep last night. He came back in the morning with Shima and Konekomaru to help me down the stairs incase I was feeling dizzy. We made our way downstairs, where immediately I was swarmed by Mephisto, who grabbed my arms and was turning me left and right. "Mephisto... what are you doing, dare I ask...?" He smiled in satisfaction, clapping his hands together. "You seem to be intact despite the head injury you received. Thank goodness that was all you got~!" I blinked in surprise. "I... I didn't think you were so concerned..." "Well, duh. I accidentally threw my DSi out the window. I need something to keep me entertained until my new one comes in~." I starred at him, straight faced for a moment. "You are seriously fucked up-"<p>

"Now then!"

He danced away from me, Ushering everyone to gather around him as he made his big announcement. "What is this? You're all acting as if I have the plague! Come closer..." We all exchanged glances before nervously inching closer. He frowned and put his hands on his hips, eyebrows knitting in annoyance. "If all of you don't move at least 3 feet forward, you'll have to spend detention tied to a rapid hobgoblin in the cellars." I don't think anyone hesitated to move forward this time. Mephisto smiled triumphantly, stroking his beard with one hand, while plucking his hat from his head with the other. "Excellent! Eins~ Zwei~ Drei~!"

Confetti burst from the hat, some of it landing on sensei's head. I looked between the others and our rather... flamboyant principle. (Here is where Mephisto yells at the author and claims that he isn't gay and that he's just expression himself as an artist... pfft.) They looked about as confused as I was. "Congratulations! Everyone has made it to exwire!" It took a second for me to register the words when I felt Suguro lifting me from behind and spinning me around, before going over to throw his arm over Konekomaru's shoulders. I teetered over a little bit, lucky enough to have Rin catch me. I stared up at him, as he had caught me under the arms, watching his large canines part as he laughed. "Did ya hear that, Mana-chan? We're all exwires! This is awesome!" I slowly realized what he had said, and couldn't help the smile that slowly grew on my face. I had no idea why I was so happy about this. I had only agreed to become an exorcist under Mephisto's advising. It wasn't like I initially wanted to go through with it. I thought to myself that If I had happened to become an exwire, it wouldn't have been a big deal to me. Maybe I had enjoyed it more that I originally thought.

"Fufu~ and to celebrate everyone's promotion, I, the rich chairman-" "Knock it off!" Mephisto glared at me, now completely annoyed. "You knock it off! Stop interrupting me when I'm trying to introduce myself!" He clicked his tongue and turned back to the others with a false smile. "I will treat you to monja!" What the hell? "Fried _Pancakes? _You cheap ass, at least treat us to barbeque or something!" Mephisto turned back at me now, a serious look etched on his features. "Ah, right. That is... All of you except for Miss Fukunuma Mana." I froze in my place. "Oh, so now you're uninviting me from the celebration? I see how it is." I crossed my arms and looked away from him in mock anger.

"No. You see, when I said that everyone had made it to exwire, I meant everyone but you."

I snapped my head back toward him. Rin took a step forward. "Wait, what are you talking about? Are you saying Mana failed the exam?" Mephisto placed his hat back on his head, his features as grim as a grave stone, pulling the rim so that it covered the top half of his eyes. "Unfortunately, it is so."

My arms fell to my side. The happiness and excitement that was swelling within my chest a few seconds ago suddenly vanished, and in its place was a sinking depression. Rin looked back at me, something between confusion and shock apparent in his eyes. "What the hell? How did she not make it? She helped us with the naberius! If she hadn't impaled it and slowed its movements, it would have killed Me and Moriyama! And what about Takara and Yamada, who didn't even do anything and yet they're still being promoted? What bullshit is this?" Suguro had to be restrained by Shima and Konekomaru, who were also starring at me. I kept my gaze locked on Mephisto, his emerald eyes shining brightly in what appeared to be a mix of malice and irritation.

"Yes. Though, she was unable to summon her familiar in a time where it was crucial. Being unable to summon your familiar is indeed a disadvantage and a sign of a lack, or regression of skill, and is especially frowned upon as a tamer. She then proceeded to throw her bloodied paper at the demon carelessly, allowing it to ingest it and increase its stamina. Moriyama would have been able to hold up the barrier for a longer period of time if this hadn't happened. Also, we found traces of her blood on Moriyama's kimono, which sparked its interest in her in the first place, thus putting her in danger. You also put yourself in danger and almost had yourself killed. Though, indeed, you successfully managed to save Moriyama and assist Suguro, the teachers and I have come to the decision that you aren't ready to move on and become an exwire."

* * *

><p>I spent the rest of that week in a haze. I wasn't stupid, I knew exactly what this meant. All of my friends would move on and start their missions, and I would be repeating the semester all over again. I didn't want that to happen. Suguro, Rin, Shima, Konekomaru, Shiemi, Sensei, hell, even Kamiki. I didn't want to be left behind. It had been the first time I had ever felt like I belonged with anyone, and now I would be stuck by myself again. I felt like, if I had failed as an exwire, slowly I would lose the connection I had made with everyone, and I would be alone again.<p>

I hadn't been snapped out of my trance until the end of English class on Friday. I had been spacing out, and apparently we had been taking notes. I sat there for a while even after the bell had rung, starring at the fibers of the wood in the desk.

Hanabura-Sensei placed a hand on my shoulder, shaking me from my thoughts. I starred up at him, surprised. He frowned at me and sat across from me. "Is something the matter, Fukunuma-san? You've been spacey the whole period. I thought you might be feeling sick." I blinked a few times before looking back down, shaking my head. "No, Sensei... It's just... No, I'm fine, really." He frowned before nodding and making his way back to his desk. I gathered my things and made my way out towards the main stairway to go back to my dorm.

* * *

><p>Things were especially awkward as the days went by. Especially the one afternoon I accidentally went to the cram school, not realizing I shouldn't have been there until I had stepped foot into the classroom. I was supposed to be back in the remedial class with Tsubaki-sensei, and instead went to Okumura-sensei's. I opened the door and readied myself to step in, when it suddenly hit me. I failed. This was the exwire's class, not the paige's. My eyes flickered nervously across everyone's faces. Even sensei looked a bit star struck by my presence. I let my eyes fall to the floor, hand gripping the door knob as I took a step back. "Oh. Pardon me. I'm in the wrong class..." My chest swelled as I began to shut the door. I paused when I heard Suguro jump up and shout for me, and smiled to myself in a melancholy manner before shutting the door.<p>

* * *

><p>One day when I was in my room reading, I heard a knock at my door. When got up to open it, Shiemi stood there, smiling away. I felt my face heat in embarrassment, seeing as it was a Saturday and I had been lying around in my pajamas all afternoon, but I let her in anyway. "You know, Mana-chan, everyone has been really sad ever since you've stopped attending the cram school. Didn't you know? Suguro-kun actually failed a test the other day! He's been such a wreck ever since the exams..." I shot up and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her. "That idiot failed? NO! That's unacceptable! He can't, he can't, he can't! He's number one in the class, this is absolutely impossible! Unforgivable!" Shiemi's small hands shot out and slapped themselves onto either side of my face. I let go of her, straightening her shirt and flushing even more. "Erm... sorry... and... thanks..."<p>

She took a seat in my desk chair, taking a moment to stop her vision from spinning. "He doesn't even bother to yell at Rin anymore, and he doesn't pay attention in class. He gets really, really mad when Shima-kun or Miwa-kun mention your name. Kamiki-san has been crankier too. But I think Rin has been taking it the hardest..." I had been putting my book back on the bookshelf when I took a step back, tangling my feet and falling over onto my bed. "M-Mana-chan!" I put my hand up and sat upright onto my elbows. "I'm fine... but... Rin...? I doubt he's taking it harder than Suguro. That idiot has been attached to me since day one..." Shiemi giggled, bringing a hand to her lips. "Yeah. It's kind of cute. You two would made a good couple!" I blinked at her. "I didn't even know you were aware of things like that. No offense, I mean, you come off as overly innocent and oblivious most of the time..." This time it was her turn to blush, and she slapped her hands over her own cheeks. "W-Well to be honest, I've been reading magazines lately that say-" I put my hand up and shook my head. "Forget it, I don't wanna know. And anyway, what's up with Rin?"

Her eyes downcast to the floor, and she rubbed her arm. "You see... He doesn't talk as much as he used to, and he doesn't sleep in class anymore..." I raised an eyebrow. "Um... Isn't that a good thing...?" "N-No! Not like that! He looks mad all the time and he's always brooding. It's as if he's got something on his mind that he can't shake. I asked him what was wrong, and he wouldn't respond to me. But, when I asked him if it was because of you, he would clench his teeth, and walk away. I think that... you're very important to him as well, Mana-chan..." Oh no. It couldn't be. Her body language, her mannerisms, her reasons for coming here... "Shiemi-chan... You... wouldn't happen to like Rin, would you? Because I swear it's not-" "Ah!" Her head shot up, and she looked confused. "What? No! No, no, no! Rin is one of my very close friends. I'm just concerned about him because he hasn't been himself. The one I like is Yuki-chan!"

...

In the short awkward silence that ensued, she seemed to have turned into a little blonde tomato, as her cheeks puffed out and her face burned brilliantly. It took me a second to realize that she would occasionally slip up in class and call Okumura-Sensei 'Yuki-chan'. I couldn't help but grin at this realization. "Ah~. I see. So Okumura-sensei is the one you like~?" She ran over to me and slapped her hands over my mouth, effectively silencing me. "No! P-Please don't say anything! I-I want to be the one to tell him! On my own!" I moved her hands aside, smiling. "It's okay, Shiemi-chan. I wouldn't tell anyone, anyway. It's not my place, and I'm not that kind of person. And anyway, I feel kinda honored that you would share that with me openly." She scratched the back of her head an looked away. "Um... actually I kind of blurted that out without thinking... I wasn't planning on telling you..." I would have fallen over if I hadn't been sitting.

"A-Anyway, I'm getting off topic... Rin is always looking at you so seriously... It's as if he can't see anyone else but you. And every time he gets close to you, he backs up immediately, not even realizing that he was so close to you! It's so sweet. He's been so happy-go-lucky since you came to the cram school. I really do believe that he likes you! It has to be true!" I stood from the bed and scratched my head, walking over to my desk to look for a clean sheet of paper. "Shiemi-chan, which is it? You say that Suguro-kun and I would make a good couple, then you go on about your theory that Rin likes me. Which is it?" I turned to watch her shuffle her feet. "W-Well... my point for comming here is that everyone hasn't been the same since you left, and we all miss you. We've all been trying to figure out a way... and we are going to go to Sir Pheles and request that you are given another chance!"

I stared at her a moment. "Sh-Shiemi-" "The cram school hasn't been the same without you Mana-chan. We can't just sit by and do nothing while our friend is being held back! We know that you can do anything you put your mind to! And we all want is to help you pass the exam!" I smiled and turned around to face her. "As much as I appreciate it... I don't think it would be a good idea..." "Why not? What do you have to lose? You've already lost the exam, and if you lose again things aren't going to change!" "Jesus, Shiemi, that's not exactly encouraging!" She shook her head and balled her round little hands into fists. "Fukunuma Mana! Get off of your sorry ass and stop feeling sorry for yourself! You're gonna let us help you whether you like it or not! Meet us tomorrow at ten o'clock sharp at the school gym if you ever wanna be an exwire! If not, quit wasting our time!" I took a step back, nearly falling on top of the desk. Shiemi's serious demeanor suddenly changed into a bright, cheery one. "Suguro-kun asked me to say that if I couldn't convince you."

She skipped towards the door and opened it, looking back at me with a smile. "I'll see you there, Mana-chan!" I starred after the small blonde, slightly shocked by her little outburst. I couldn't help but smile. They really missed me that badly, huh? Maybe I would show up tomorrow, just to see what all the hub-bub was all about.

* * *

><p>At about 9:33 I put on a pair of running shoes, a pink hoodie, and white shorts and bolted out of the girl's dorm as fast as I could, making my way for the school. I was determined to get Mephisto to give me a do over, and if I was gonna request one, I needed to be better prepared. At about 9:46, I had made it to the entrance of the school and was making my way to the gym. At 9:51, I had arrived at the gym doors and peered inside the windows. I saw no one there, and figured that they hadn't arrived yet. That, or Shiemi had the times wrong. I pulled the doors open and peered around, and when I still saw no signs of life, I exhaled in disappointment. "I really, REALLY hope she didn't get the times mixed up..."<p>

I heard a door open to my right and starred at Suguro awkwardly. He was wearing a black tank and shorts, and he had a towel draped over his shoulders. His face went from annoyed to surprised. "M-Mana-chan... you're here early..." I blinked, a little flustered by his presence, considering I had been avoiding him for a week straight. I immediately clasped my hands together and started twiddling my thumbs, at a loss for words. "Erm... well, yeah, I wanted to know what was going on..." I heard him throw the towel down and cry out in frustration. "God dammit, I had this cool thing going down and of course you have to show up to ruin it! Nothing ever goes the way I plan..." I put my hands up in my defense and took a step back. "I-I can come back later if you wa-" "No! It's too late now... Yo! Mana's here early! So much for the formation..." I frowned and turned away, holding my hands over my eyes. "Look, Suguro-kun! I won't look, let's just pretend I haven't walked in yet!" I heard him growl and stop immediately. "Aw, fuck it. C'mon guys, let's just stick to the plan..."

I heard the sound of sneakers rushing about the rubber floor and couldn't help the smile that stretched across my face. "Fukunuma Mana!" I turned on my heel and peeked out between my fingers. "I can look now?" Suguro scowled, baring his teeth. "You're looking already, aren't you, maggot?" I jumped and threw my hands behind my back, blinking innocently. Everyone from the cram school, even Takara, and Yamato, stood in a V formation, with Suguro in front. My hands dropped and slackened along with my jaw. "We're here to help you train to get stronger for your exwire exams! Each one of us will be helping you in a specific field that will be especially suited to you! Takara, Yamada, and Okumura will be assisting you in hand-to-hand combat! Moriyama and Kamiki will be assisting you with your tamer abilities, and Shima, Konekomaru, and I will be your fitness instructors, seeing as you have little to none body strength!" I flushed darkly and glared at him in my defense. "Oi, asshole! Just 'cause I'm not a freakin' steroid abuser like you-" "Is that anyway to speak to your sensei, maggot?" I jumped backward as he took a step forward and yelled in my face. I put my feet together and saluted him, muscles tensing. "Sir, yes, Sir!" He grinned and reached behind me to pat me hard on the back, nearly knocking me over. "Excellent! Then we'll first start with fitness training! I wanna see you start out with ten laps around then gym, then drop and give me twenty!"

I gave everyone a once over, smiling in thanks. "You've got it, Ryuuji-sensei!" I winked up at him and began running around the gym at top speed. Not a very good idea to start out running, but I was so enthusiastic about meeting their requirements, that I didn't have the time to think about it. With everyone so eager to encourage me and to help me succeed, I didn't have room to think of anything else! So with an elated grin, I reached the tenth lap in no time, and dropped to Suguro's feet to do push-ups. Albeit, horribly.

* * *

><p>"FUKUNUMA! You can do better than that! this is only the second time and you're already out of breath?" I paused at the top of the stairs in the main hall of the school, hands on my knees and breathing heavily. "D-Damn you, Suguro..." "Well? What the hell do you think you're doing? MOVE IT!" I growled and felt something snap on my forehead. Maybe it had been that vein in the center that had been pulsating since my failed push-ups this morning. I ripped my hoodie off over my head to reveal a tank top, and rubbed my hands together, turning on my heel and running back down the steps. Over the sound of my feet hammering against the marble staircase, I heard Rin murmur, "You sure it's okay to push her like this? I mean, if she doesn't exercise all that much she should be starting out easier, right?" I heard Suguro snort. "We don't have time to start out easy. We already asked Okumura-sensei to gather the other sensei and put in a word, now all we have to do is wait on Sir Pheles's decision."<p>

I paused in my running and spun around to stare at him, bewildered. "You mean... sensei... he... he wanted to help...?" Suguro howled and pointed a finger at me. "DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE! KEEP RUNNING, MAGGOT!" I glared back at him. "YOU DON'T HAVE TO ACT LIKE A FUCKING DRILL SEARGENT!" I spun on my heel, feeling my ponytail whip behind me, before continuing to run up and down the steps. I felt happy that even sensei was putting an effort into helping out as well. I guess with a teacher's assistance the whole ordeal felt more reassuring. On my way up, hammering my feet in an attempt to wake my legs back up, which was failing horribly, I heard footsteps behind me and couldn't help but turn my head. Rin was catching up to me quickly, feral-seeming grin stretching his features. Panting, I glared at him lightly as I continued to jog up the marble torture device. "Hey, Hey! I figured you might wanna race me! It might give you some motivation!"

* * *

><p>Already annoyed by Suguro's ceaseless yelling, I offered the kindest response I could muster. "Piss off." I went as far as skipping three steps as I went along, just to get away from him. I silently thanked the lord for blessing me with long legs. When I reached the top of the stairs, I paused a moment, leaning on my knees and panting while he bent next to me, a hand on my back. "Oi, you okay? I think you've done enough for today... why don't we practice your reflexes?"<p>

My 'yes' was a straight blow to his jaw.

He fell backwards into the railing and stared at me like he had gotten electrocuted. I grinned, despite my heavy heaving, and straightened, cracking my knuckles. "Y'know, Rin, as nice as that sounds, after your inability to block a punch like that, I think you'd be a sucky reflex instructor. Yo, Ryuuji-sensei! I did my thirty runs up and down the steps! Whaddya suppose we do next?" I turned to eye Suguro over the railing and smiled when I noticed his cheeks twinge red. "That's enough for today! Just c'mon down and take a break!" I sighed in relief, mounting myself on the railing and sliding down, effectively jumping off and falling on my face when I reached the bottom.

I saw the brown loafers cloud my vision and smiled sheepishly, right cheek pressed firmly against the floor and glued there from the sweat that loitred my face. "Hey guys, my legs feel like jelly..."

* * *

><p>I took a bento from Rin and chowed down appreciatively, taking note of the ingredients as I piled them into my mouth. Suguro took a seat beside me on the steps, unscrewing and handing me a bottle of water as I sucked it down with vigor. "Running is definitely one of your strong points. You're really quick on your feet, you could use that to your advantage. Have you ever thought about joining a sports team?" I swallowed the sticky rice and took another swig of the refreshment, turning to him with slight irritation. "My folks tried to get me involved in track and field before when I outran the city bus for school... but I was against it because I hated everyone in my old school. Making friends or attempting something popular wasn't an option. Maybe here, I wouldn't mind, but I'm better off doing things at my own pace rather than being made to do them. The only reason why it's working while I have you guys training me is because I actually have the motivation, and you guys don't get on my nerves. Well, most of the time, anyway."<p>

I paused in my eating, remembering some of the things Shiemi had told me. I immediately turned to Suguro, handing Rin my bento, and slapping my poor sensei across the face lightly. I hadn't hit him hard enough to hurt him, but he still looked surprised. "You dumbass. What is this Shiemi told me about you failing a test?" His eyes downcast, rubbing his cheek in a dejected manner. "I-I couldn't think straight..." "Damn straight you couldn't! What the hell were you thinking Suguro?" I couldn't help but feel a little guilty when his eyes suddenly made contact with mine in a ferocious manner. "I was thinking about you. So if anything it's your fault..." I smiled and reached down, ruffling his hair. "You really worry to much." He smacked my hand away and looked away again.

"Is this the part where they kiss and make up?"

Cue a men's size thirteen loafer lodging itself in Shima's face.

I now turned to Rin and glared at him. "And since when the hell were you anti-social? That's not like you at all. If anything, the stupid, cheery, 'kiss my ass' Rin is much more fun than that." Rin smiled bashfully and nodded, scratching the back of his head. "Haha, yeah, I gottcha..." I sat back down on the steps, stretching my arms around both their shoulders and hugging them tightly. These idiots... "You guys are the best. Never forget that..." I felt my cheeks warm. Gooey, fluffy, shitty moments weren't really my shtick... but I was willing to make an acceptation for these two. Rin chuckled heartily, wrapping his free arm around my torso as Suguro tried to pull away, flustered. I took my bento back from Rin and continued eating.

It was upon taking my bites slowly, now munching on some okra, that Yamada stood from a shaded corner of the room and waltzed over to me, crouching down at eye level and smirking. Under the brim of his hood, a flash of violet caught me off-guard. I had to swallow the okra a bit too soon to prevent myself from choking. A smirk adorned his unusually full lips as he handed an envelope to me. I stared at it in confusion, before glancing back at him. "This, is only for you to read, hime-sama."

My blood ran cold.

Suguro and Rin growled from either side of me, both jumping up simultaneously, barking at the boy to back off. In any other situation, I would have probably laughed or shrugged it off. It was the face that he addressed me as only another demon would that frightened me the most. It couldn't be that Yamada knew who I was...? And just the fact that he had called me a princess...

Was Yamada a demon too...?

I heard Rin's breath hitch beside me and looked over as a look of realization suddenly hit him, as well. He looked over at me, cobalt eyes flashing wildly as his mouth hung agape.

I guess this meant I was under just as much suspicion as they were.


	9. Sparring

**1st…. Hyperventilating is a bitch to spell.**

**2nd…. Jack Sparrow reminds me of Mephisto… Johnny Depp should be his VA…. I would fucking jizz.**

**3rd... ****Jizz comes up as Jazz in my word correct box… so Microsoft is basically telling me I'm wrong and that I would be 'jazzing' my pants.**

**Fuck you, Microsoft. Don't tell me how to live my life.**

**Oya, and you all have permission to flame me without consequences due to my lack of updating. You see, this year i'm putting more effort into my studies at school. **

**Oh, and I'm sure the lot of you would be delighted to know that this year's musical is Cinderella, the rodgers and hammerstein version. I shall be playing the role of the evil stepmother~! :D I even get my own little musical number~ haha. I am so excited :} though for you, that may mean memorizing lines will be taking up my spare time, rather than Celestial bride. But I'll still write as much as I can.**

**Enjoy~ **

* * *

><p>Swing.<p>

Kick.

Turn.

Swing.

Fall.

"DAMMIT!"

"Mana-chan-"

"Don't you 'Mana-chan' me! C'mere so I can kick your ass!"

We had been going at it for hours, Rin and I. Now late into the evening, I continued to chase him clumsily around the lobby while he merely dodged, flawlessly I might add. How this little one-sided fight came to be? Well, he kept bothering me to fight him after we had finished our lunches. Now five o'clock, I had been chasing him around since about three. And how I had even had the strength to fight him for so long? Let's just say I tend to let my anger get the better of me...

My legs gave out as I tried to stand, seeing as I'd fallen on my bum, and wound up kneeling against the white tile. Rin stood a ways off, blinking at me as if nothing were going on. "Hey, like I said before, it's not good to over exert yourself. The fact that you've been able to come at me for so long has to be a sign of improvement. Take a rest now." I snapped my head up, glaring daggers into his messy head, still hyperventilating.

"You're... the one who... egged me on about sparring...! ...My God... what the hell is wrong... with you...?"

He scuttled along towards his hand bag, resting against the bottom step of the grand staircase, bringing out two water bottles, tossing the first to me. I caught it against my stomach, opening it pouring the contents over my hand, smearing the cool water along my arms immediately. I looked up in time to watch him throw his neck in another direction. I downcast my gaze and scratched an itch on the top of my head, standing shakily and walking over to the empty spot to his right and sitting down. He spun around to look at me, cheeks red.

"Y'know... you're pretty quick on your feet, Rin. Half the time you act like a doof, so its kind of surprising." He glared at me lightly before scratching his teeth.

"Well, I guess I learned from picking fights when I was a kid. I never really played well with others up until recently... that and you fight like a priss."

I ignored the last comment, raising an eyebrow. I was curious to know what he meant. Was he really a different person before coming here?

"I still find it hard to believe that you used to pick fights even. You're way too nice to go around sluggin' people for no reason!" I couldn't help but laugh. He pouted and glared at the floor.

"I don't get it. That's what Shiemi says too... its weird..."

"What? That you're nice? That's all you have been since I first arrived here. I think you're the nicest person out of everyone in class."

He snorted. "What about Suguro? I don't know if you've noticed but he has a tendency of catering to your every whim?"

It was my turn to snort. "And you think I asked for that? Suguro is my best friend, but that doesn't mean he doesn't get a little over bearing sometimes..."

It was silent for a moment. Rin suddenly laughed, turning to me with a grin. "Y'know, you think highly of him, huh?" I blinked. What kind of question was that? Of course I did. He was the first friend I made entering the academy, and what's more, we had a lot in common. And so I told him just that. "Hah... yeah... I worry sometimes..."

"Wait, what? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing. Anyway, I'm really not that nice. I remember a time when I was five... someone called me a demon, so I hit him hard enough to break his nose and arm..."

I did a double take. "Holy shit, at five? You must have been, like, Chuck Norris or something..."

"Haha, not really... I was always rebellious, I slugged the first guy to look at me wrong, and I tried to quit middle school early and get a job so that I didn't have to bother with anyone anymore..."

I smiled and tried to imagine it. A laid back, stubborn Rin, who was quick to act and didn't think first... "You sounded cool."

He raised an eyebrow and looked like his eyes were gonna bug outta his head. "Huh? How the hell is that cool?"

I giggled. "I dunno. Maybe it just looks different in my head."

He scowled and crossed his arms, looking away with another pout. I rubbed at my eyes and jumped as the bell tolled, signaling curfew. "Ah, shit, we spent too much time here, I gotta run before Mephisto finds me and gives me another detention. Last time he made me spend one on one time with him, browsing his yukata collection. I swear to God that man might be gay... no, scratch that I'm pretty sure he is... A-Any way, I'll see you tomorrow, Rin!"

He laughed lightly, nodding and waving. "Yeah, see ya... Hey, get some good rest, okay, Mana-chan?" I paused for a moment, blinking. Something about the way he said it sounded weird... it kind of made me feel... sick I guess. But, not a disgusted sick... more like a warm, sick. Does that make sense? No, probably not, but that's the best way I can describe it... damn it...

I couldn't help but smile and nod back to him. "Yeah, you too..." I spun around on my heel, bolting for the entrance. But when I had opened the doors, I had forgotten how quickly they shut, and caught my ankle. I took a complete tumble down the steps, head over heels, letting out a shout when I hit the flat pavement halfway down, and grabbed my sore ankle.

"M-Mana!" I heard Rin's loafers pounding against the marble floors heavily as he rushed to shove through the doors, looking frazzled when he appeared. I tried to smile through the droplets forming in the corners of my eyes, reaching back with one hand to sit up and close my legs. "What the hell happened? Are you okay?"

I nodded, grimacing slightly. "Y-Yeah, the doors closed on my ankle. Hurts like a bitch, but I'm sure it's fine..." He frowned, kneeling down in front of me and moving my hand aside, taking hold of the undersides of my shins and carefully aligning them with each other.

I smacked his hands away, turning red. He raised an eyebrow, looking rather frustrated by my actions. "N-No! Don't touch my legs!"

"W-Well I mean, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, no! I... haven't... It's just I haven't... shaved in a few days... so they're sorta... prickly..."

He blinked before snorting obnoxiously, and grinning at me. "Who cares? I'm sure it's not that bad- HOLY SHIT IT'S LIKE PETTING A WOOKIE!"

CRACK

He laughed, all the while rubbing his now reddening cheek. I glared at him maliciously. My head felt like it was going to explode from all the pressure. "Haha, relax! I'm just kidding! Seriously, it's not that bad, just let me compare your ankles to check for swelling... first thing's first, try to lift your leg."

I bit down on my lip, lifting my knee to pull the weight of my leg up. I didn't get my heel a centimeter off of the ground before pain shot through it. Rin must have noticed the look on my face, because he took my leg gingerly, lining it up with the other and taking off my shoes and socks carefully. He grimaced deeply, sucking air through his teeth. "Alright. it looks like it's discolored. The swelling isn't too bad, but it'll probably get worse as we go along. Seeing as you can't lift your leg, it's probably not a good idea to walk on it..."

"Oh, okay. Maybe if you try going to the infirmary you might find a wheelchair folded up in the hall closet-" He cut me off by standing up quickly.

"Or, we can do this the old fashioned way."

I let out a gasp as he suddenly seized me under the knees and shoulders, lifting me bridal style from the ground. The pain that shot through my foot went ignored. I was too busy mentally screaming at the fact that he was carrying me that way. He suddenly began walking with ease, as if he were carrying a bundle of feathers. Which, I obviously was not. "O-Oi, what are you doing! I didn't give you permission to do this!"

He blinked down at me. "So? Just taking you there myself is quicker and easier than running in and running back out empty handed. The closet's probably locked. Besides, I would feel like a total douche bag just leaving you on the ground like that, even if it were only temporary." I flushed darker, folding my hands together over my stomach, unsure of what to do.

"You know, you could always wrap your arms around my neck. It would make carrying you a little easier." I closed my eyes tightly. reaching up shakily and refolding my hands behind his vertebrae. I felt heavy in his arms. Normally if a girl found herself being carried by a cute guy, she would feel weightless, but- oh dear lord, listen to me! No, wait, don't, I sound like an idiot!

"B-But... I'm heavy..." He shrugged, keeping up his easy stride.

He laughed briefly. "Not really. I mean, for a normal person, you might be.. B-but I'm not calling you fat or anything! I mean, you're tall so you need to have more weight to stay healthy- oh man... erm..." I raised an eyebrow.

"For a normal person? Are you insinuating that I'm not normal?"

He stopped walking for a second. "...I'm just gonna stop talking now..."

I laughed.

* * *

><p>The rest of the way was rather quiet as we made our way to the front of the girl's dorm. Upon arriving, the doors swung open, nearly hitting Rin in the face, revealing a red head first year who I had spoken to every now and then. The girl looked as though she had seen a ghost.<p>

"F-Fukunuma-san!" Her face was red and sweaty, as if she had just been running. I raised an eyebrow, wondering if this were the case.

"Asami-san? Are you okay? Why are you all sweaty?" I had a bad feeling about this. I had a feeling that I wasn't going to like her answer.

She took a deep breath in. "Never mind that, why is this brute carrying you like that?"

"The fuck, Asami? Why is it any of your business? That's rather rude, don't ya think?"

Her face colored darker, this time out of embarrassment, rather than the lack of oxygen. She muttered an apology, bowing deeply. "I-I'm sorry, that was rude... it's just... there's this huge commotion going on... these girls were saying that you were two timing Suguro-san for Okumura! I had to be sure!"

I blinked. "Asami, what the hell are you talking about? What girls, you're not making sense!"

She howled in frustration. "There's been a rumor going around saying that you're dating Suguro-san, and when they saw you with Okumura-"

"WHAT? Rin, put me down now!" I struggled to get out of Rin's arms. He protested, squawking in distress as I forced him to put me on my feet. I winced from the pain in my ankle, disregarding it and hobbling up towards Asami. "Where are these girls now?" Asami took a step back and pointed up at the largest window in the center of the dorm, where the third floor was. A crowd of girls hovered behind them, some with their faces pressed to the glass. When I squinted my eyes, I recognized them as the girls who were talking about Suguro and I on my second day of school.

I sucked in a breath. By this point, Rin knew it would be wise to plug his ears. Poor, poor Asami.

"QUIT CREEPN' ON ME YOU OTAKU WEIRDOS!"

The sound of my own voice bouncing off of the brick walls made my ears ring. I had to take a step back with my good foot, so that I didn't fall over. Asami cringed and grabbed her chest. On the plus side, they all scrambled like chickens, the two up front even slamming into each other in their escape attempt. Rin walked up beside me, failing to restrain a grin. "So, yeah. How's your ankle feel? You up for walkin'?"

I moved it very slowly, puckering my lips. "It's not as bad as before. And it looks like the swelling has gone down, so..." I trailed off when I noticed he was glaring at me. "Lemme guess... you wanna help me walk anyway so that you can check out the girls?" He beamed, nodding vigorously. I laughed. "Alright, lets go Casanova."

* * *

><p>This time as he led me to the infirmary, he acted as a crutch, my arm draped over his shoulder, his wrapped around my waist. I kept a close eye as his face changed with each girl we passed along the way. It was actually kinda funny, the way his expression changed based on the girl.<p>

I perked my head up, noticing we almost missed our turn. "Oh, dude, turn here, infirmary's that way." We turned left. He set me down against a bench outside while he went in to get the nurse. A few seconds later he came back out, sitting next to me. He grinning at me oddly when he sat down. I raised an eyebrow, snorting. "What's up with you?"

He gave me a thumbs up, little tears streaming down his cheeks. "You make an excellent wingman. Getting me through the girls dorms so I can check out girls… Ew, I feel like Shima. I think I need to go to confession now..." His head fell and he glared at his feet, shuddering. I snickered, punching his shoulder lightly. Suddenly his head snapped up.

"That reminds me… I've noticed something about the way you hit… Well, punch… They hurt alright, but it's because you put too much knuckle into it. I was wondering why the hell I got such a sharp pain when you hit me, when you don't have that much force in you. You see, the trick is," He griped my hand lightly, spreading it palm up on his lap to demonstrate, "You want to throw your weight into it. I'll show you that another time, when I know you won't fall over writhing in pain from positioning your feet, haha." He closed his hands over mine, making my hand a fist. "Something else you can do is hold your fist underhand, then pull back and swing up, but twist your hand as you're going in for the kill. It'll actually increase the force of your punch. I used to take notes after getting into fights. I hope this helps somewhat…"

I looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah, actually, that might help a lot…"

For a moment, my eyes fell on our hands.

He opened my fist carefully, slipping his thumb between my fingers and caressing my palm. He ran it over the lines in my hands, tracing them. The motions were so soft, and so warm that I felt my lids grow heavy. It was oddly calming. His thumb ran down to my wrist, tracing my veins now, pressing down lightly on the main one, feeling my pulse.

I didn't think anything of the notion. The fact that I had a warm hand embracing mine… something about it made something stir in the back of my brain. My senses suddenly dulled. I turned my head to look at Rin, taking note of how his eyes were unusually low, and how he studied my hand almost dreamily.

I caught the smell of something… well, good. It had to have been him, because it smelled like cologne, only not as strong. And it was really, really good. Like, pine. Or something like that.

Suddenly he turned his head, half lidded gaze fixated on mine. Chocolate verses cobalt, yet again.

I don't think I knew what I was doing. Suddenly, sapphire grew bigger, until I could see the lines of cerulean highlighting the space around his retina, which, oddly enough, looked almost red, rather than black. But my mind was too fogged over to really think about how unusual it was.

His lips parted slightly. I could see his canines brushing against the bits of skin peeling off of the soft peach flesh as they overlapped his lips. I studied them carefully, remembering suddenly my theory of him not being human. For some reason, it made me want to lean in closer.

_Ahem._

The obnoxious sound of someone clearing their throat suddenly snapped me out of my trance. I didn't bother to look up at the nurse. I was too shocked to look away from Rin. I put my hand over my mouth, the burning sensation slowly creeping up my spine. He didn't look away from me either, his face equally as flustered and red.

"Well then. If you two are done gazing into each other's eyes, I'll be more than happy to take a look at your ankle now, Fukunuma-san." I averted my gaze to my lap, nodding robotically. Rin shot up immediately, scooping me up under the arm and walking me into the office. I leaned against the wall, still attempting to hide my face from him.

He stuttered something inaudible. I glanced at him out the corner of my eye, noticing how he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "So... erm... I guess I'll... see you tomorrow..." I nodded once. "So... um, Mana... s-sorry, um... bye..."

I shook my head and raised it to say goodbye, but he had already bolted out the door. What the hell was I doing? What the hell was_ he _doing? One minute he's instructing me how to punch, and the next I'm leaning in like I was gonna... gonna...

I shook my head vigorously. No. I refused to dwell on it anymore. I refused to think about what could have happened, and how I felt in that brief moment of... GAH NO!

The nurse raised a particularly thin eyebrow as she observed me whacking my head repeatedly off of the wall. "You know, I'm going to start charging you a fee if you just start making more work for me." I flushed, muttering an apology before hobbling over to one of the beds in the middle of the office.

* * *

><p>I pushed my books aside, exhaling and resting my head on the cool glass of my desk after completing my final piece of homework. I would have Suguro look it over tomorrow at lunch. Lately I had been improving in my work, thanks to him. I had gone from D's to C's in no time, and the other day I got my first ever B. I smiled. He really had been helpful. I felt like crap, because when I thought about it, I didn't do a whole lot to help him out… I wonder what… maybe I could teach him to draw… though he being the class overachiever, I wouldn't put it past him if he already could.<p>

Hah. I must be pretty transparent right about now, right?

I don't think it's gone unnoticed. The fact that I'm thinking about Suguro to get my mind off of that awkward moment in the hall with Rin? I honestly don't know what had gotten into me there. Or, him for that matter. I wasn't aware until afterwards, when I thought about it after I promised myself I wouldn't, that I realized that he was leaning into me too. I mean… it couldn't be that he liked me, right? I mean, he completely creeped me out at first, and he was always acting awkward, but it was difficult to tell. It wasn't at all obvious, if true, like Suguro. I thought that he was like that with all girls, considering he acted all goofy and flustered around Kamiki and Shiemi, too.

I rubbed my eyes harshly, trying to rub the sleep from them. Now that I thought about it, it would probably be better to get a good night's rest. I had already washed up, and I knew tomorrow I would need the sleep if I wanted to-

There was a sudden sound at my window. Like, someone threw a rock at it. Cautiously, I stood and walked towards it, scanning the blackened gardens for a sign of life. I jumped and took a step back when another rock bounced off of the glass. I unlatched the window, throwing them open and looking around.

"Hello…? Who's th-"

SMACK

"OW MY EYE!"

I tripped over my feet and smacked my back against the wooden floors. I rolled around on the floor, holding my aching eye, biting my lip from screaming at my assailant and waking up the girls next door, if they hadn't been already.

"M-Mana-chan!"

Rin…?

I sat up immediately, blinking wildly at Rin, who was currently standing in my window, looking as though he had seen a ghost. He threw his legs over the sill, his sword bag getting caught in the frame. He struggled with it for a moment before he managed to turn it and pull it inside, dropping it, as well as a gym bag and a sweater on my bed before rushing over and helping me up.

He sat me down in my desk chair, pulling my hand away from my eye and surveying the damage he had done. He threw his head down in shame, falling down to one knee as he sulked.

"I think I'm bad luck for you…"

I waved him off and instructed him to get an ice pack out of the mini fridge I hid in my closet. They weren't allowed in the dorms, but seeing as I had found an outlet in the back and I had a fancy for midnight snacking, the temptation had gotten the better of me. Emi's dad managed a department store, so she had helped me sneak it in and purchase it on one of her visits.

He handed the pack to me. I pulled the silk material of the tie to my uniform from my clothes hamper on the floor, wrapped the pack with it, and pressed it to my eye. He took a seat on my bed, frowning. "So, um, anyway…. Sorry about that… I almost dropped the one rock and threw it without checking to see if you were there… I remembered that you left your bags in the lobby and went back to get them… umm…"

I looked up with my right eye (The one that was still INTACT), and smiled. "Well… Thanks. I probably wouldn't have noticed…" I frowned and put the ice pack down, squeezing my eyes open and shut, and cringing from the pain. "Ugh… whatever… not like I haven't had a black eye before…" I walked over to Rin's side, rummaging through my gym bag, when my hand brushed a piece of paper. I pulled it out, eye growing wide when I scanned over the neat handwriting on the envelope. "Yamada's letter… I completely forgot about it…"

Rin scowled and snatched the letter from my hand, leaning back on his elbow and flipping the letter around to examine it in disinterest. "Tch. What's that guy think he's doing…? It's probably a confession letter or an attempt to get you alone-" I snatched the letter back and glared heatedly at him.

"Even if it is, which I doubt, it's none of your concern." He scoffed, standing up and stuffing his hands in his pocket, glaring at me.

"Sure it is. I have a right to know."

"Like hell you do! Just why do you think that?"

"Because."

"That's not a legit answer."

"Why do you need one?"

"Don't answer my question with a question!"

The air was tense before he looked away. I picked up his sword and shoved it at him, startling him. "I think it's time you head back, before you get caught. I don't need people making anymore assumptions about us…"

His cheeks glowed with color. He growled, snatching the bag out of my hands and throwing it over his shoulder. "What_ever_! Fine by me! It's not like I like you or anything!" He suddenly stopped, one hand on the window frame, one fuzzy red boot on the sill.

My eyebrows shot into my hairline, and my stomach dropped. "Excuse me…?"

"I-I'll see you tomorrow, Mana-chan! Haha, later!" He hopped out the window and onto a tree branch before I could say anything more. He stuck his head back in quickly, looking anywhere but me. "By the way… what happened earlier in the hall…"

Ha. I had completely forgotten about that. I was too focused on the fact that he had snuck out to get my stuff to remember what had happened in the hall.

I flushed. "Forget it ever happened…?"

He nodded, "Yup," and ducked back out.

I exhaled and made quick work of opening the letter. Who the hell did he think he was? Of course he didn't have a right to know what the letter was about. It was addressed to me, and even if it was a confession, it's not like I would accept Yamada. I still had to figure out how he knew who I was, what I was.

I pulled out the lined paper and scanned over its contents.

_'Dear Fukunuma Mana-san,_

_In case you are wondering, no, I am not a demon, so you have nothing to worry about there. I have taken an interest in assisting you become an exwire. I believe it would be in your best interest to become an exorcist, seeing as you will be targeted by demons for the rest of your life. I have been informed about you being the Senka prematurely, so as to protect you at all costs. Seeing you interact with the other cram school students, you remind me a bit of myself from back in the day. In that retrospect, I think we'll get along just fine. I'll meet you at your dorm tomorrow morning, 5 o'clock sharp, so make sure you're well rested. Oh, and take some Tylenol, so you don't pass out.'_

I threw the letter as well as my bags to the floor and slipped under the covers of my bed, reaching over to my lamp and turning it off. As I turned over, I thought about what tomorrow would be like. So, Yamada wasn't a demon. I felt that I didn't need to suspect him of lying, there didn't appear to be any reason to. Maybe he is already an exorcist, and he's monitoring our class for Mephisto. I guess I wouldn't really know until tomorrow.

With that said, my eyes fell shut, and I fell into a black abyss.


	10. Fan Art Contest!

**-_- this better be worth getting my neck wrung like a dish rag...**

**Oh, I forgot to write this in the rewrite of Celestial Bride for the newbies to my story. Yes, this is indeed a crossover of blue exorcist and black bird. The only reason I haven't marked it under a crossover is due to the lack of mention of the black bird characters and because Black Bird isn't as popular amongst the masses as blue exorcist. If I had stuck through with it and marked it as a crossover, it wouldn't have gotten as many views and fans as it currently has, and alot of people wouldn't have taken the time to discover Black Bird.**

**You will see eventually that Kyo and Misao make their way into the story line, but until then, I'll be keeping this marked as a blue exorcist fic.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Rachael: ...Mana... Say something...<p>

Mana: *Frozen staring into camera lens*

Rachael: ...ugh... *Leans out of director seat and pinches her arm*

Mana: OW! F-Fine...! Erm... oh God, why am I doing this again...?

Rachael: This is part of an advertisement campaign, you agreed to it when you signed your contract.

Mana: What the hell...? I never saw it anywhere!

Rachael: Page 16, sub-section 3C. Maybe you would have if you had read through the whole thing, like a smart cookie. Why do you think you're doing this instead of Mephisto...?

Mana: 'Cuz he probably ran away before you could grab him... I dunno... Besides, my Mom told me she read... it... for me... GOD DAMMIT I SHOULD HAVE GUESSED-

Rachael: *Sigh* Just read the script and let's get this over with... And SELL IT! ... 3... 2... 1... ACTION!

Mana: E-Erm... H-Hey there... Guys and Gals... Damn it! Rachael, I can't do it!

Rachael: Son of a- Just move. *shoves Mana out of the way*

**Heh-hey there, guys and gals! Mostly gals! Rachael here, and do I have a proposition for you! **

Mana: ...I hate you...

Rachael: Quiet you! *Death glare*

**Any who~ I am going to host a contest, and I really hope you are interested~! I will be holding a contest for the best Celestial Bride fan art~! Here's what to do:**

**1. Go to my deviantart account (RachaelxThexStrange) and look at my most recent pic of Mana, so that you get a good idea of how she looks!**

**2. Draw your favorite pairing! As in ManaxBlue Exorcist character. I suppose you could draw her with any character, but I'm looking for the ones who she interacts with most in this series (Rin, Suguro, Mephisto, and Amaimon ((Who hasn't yet appeared, but he will in just a few chapters)))**

**3. PM me on here, or message me on deviantart so that I'll be able to review your drawing.**

**Now, for the prizes...**

Mana: W-WAIT! Pairings! Whaddya mean pairings! It's not gonna be... like... couple stuff... right...?

Rachael: Well, duhhh. Otherwise they wouldn't be pairings.

Mana: But what if someone draws something embarrassing! Like, kissing, or hugging, or something risqué!

Rachael: Ooooooh~! **The cuter and fluffier the better~! 3**

Mana: NOOOOOOO! *hyperventilating in the corner*

**Aaaaaanyway, I suppose I'll decide a winner on February 14th. Yup, you guessed it, Valentines day 3 Fitting, no? **

**First I must say that the winning fan art will not be the deciding factor of who Mana ends up with. Only I can decide who she ends up with. However, the winner will get to come up with a scene for Mana and the character of her choosing, that can be funny, romantic, funny, disturbing, or maybe even all of the above! However, I won't do a kissing scene~! I already know who I Mana's first kiss will be ;)**

Mana: Why the hell do you get to decide that? That's not fair! And why the hell don't I get a say? You know I like- *Dodges directors chair*

**Oi. Don't let 'em know. Besides, Life's not fair, sweetie, and this is MY fanfiction. So, yeah, let's see that fan art roll in please! :D I look forward to everyone's submissions~!  
><strong>

Rachael: *Turns off Camera* Phah. I do your job better than you do- GWAH!

Mana: *Choking Rachael* I'LL KILL YOU! :O


	11. Secrets of The Mist

**This chapter is a little shorter than usual, but I couldn't think of a better way to end it.**

**Cliffhangers~!  
><strong>

**Also, what is your opinion of all this SOPA bullshit?**

* * *

><p>I woke up to a loud 'thump'. It sounded as if a bear had dropped dead on my floor. I lunged from the bed, nearly breaking my lamp as I wrestled with it to turn it on. I fought to keep my eyes open through the stinging, scanning the room for the disturbance...<p>

...And nothing seemed out of place...

...Cautiously, I sat down on the bed, rubbing my eyes and taking a deep breath to calm my rapidly beating heart. I looked over quickly when I noticed my closet door beginning to open slowly.

Fuckfuckfuck.

Someone's in my closet.

I grabbed the nearest blunt object (Which happened to be that lamp I was wrestling earlier), and turned it upside down, holding it high over my head as I quietly approached the door. the doors suddenly slammed open, and a red hood was inches from my face.

"Boo~."

"HOLY SHIT!"

I swung the lamp before I even realized it was Yamada.

In mid-swing, I tried to stop, but he had already saved himself by whipping out a sword and cutting the steel post clean in half.

He flicked on the ceiling light to the now pitch black room as I examined the damage fearfully. The half that had been sliced off lay there with the bulb broken in the socket, and the lamp shade bent from the impact. I dropped the bottom half and took a step back from him.

"Is that anyway to treat your sensei?"

I whipped my head up, glaring daggers into his shadowed eyes.

"You asshole! Ever hear of knocking! Why the hell were you hiding in my closet!"

"I was gonna wake ya up nicely, but then ya woke up and got all freaked out, so I took advantage of it!" He beamed in a way that boiled my blood. He stood up straight and motioned to the area behind himself with his thumb. I looked to where he was pointing and starred in awe. Racks of clothes and my mini-fridge no longer existed there. Now it was an opening to the cram school training chambers.

I stood tall, setting the broken lamp on my bed and raising an eyebrow at him. "Yamada, how'd you get a key to the cram school?"

He whipped out a ring of keys from behind his back, twirling them on his finger and grinning even more, if at all possible. "I stole it off of scaredy-cat four eyes when he wasn't lookin'. If he's noticed they're gone by now, he's probably goin' buts, nyaha!" He turned around, walking towards the chambers, ushering me to follow with a wave of his hand. It took me a second before I decided to follow behind slowly.

He paused suddenly, causing me to bump into him. "Oh, bring your uniform. You don't wanna go to class in your Pj's, do ya? Oh, by the way, what happened to your eye?" I looked down at my pink camisole and matching fuzzy pajama pants. I flushed, quickly turning around and rummaging through my hamper for my uniform. I balled it together and quickly ran back.

When I made it in, I dumped my clothes on the floor, and another question hit me like the rock Rin threw at me the night before. I stopped dead in my tracks, pointing an accusing finger in the hooded boy's direction. "Oi! Better yet, how the fuck'd you get a get to my closet! As far as I know, I don't even have one!"

Yamada stuck a finger in his ear, wiggling it around in a bored manner. "I know a guy. Anyway, let's get down to business."

"That doesn't answer my question!" I was gonna go off on a rant, but a wooden katana was suddenly tossed in my direction, effectively cutting me off. I caught it clumsily, causing it to whack me in the forehead and drop it. I rubbed at it ferociously, earning a scoff from said closet creeper.

"You really are a klutz. You tried to pass yourself off as one when you were a kid because you were tormented by evil spirits, and now that you're away from it all, it seems as though its been carved into you. It's now a part of who you are."

I frowned, picking the sword back up and pointing it threateningly at him. "Which brings me to my third question; how did you know I was the Senka? Only Mephisto and certain sensei know about me. The only way you could possibly know is if you're a sensei, or you're working for someone to get to me."

He scratched the back of his head, resting the odd purple sword over his shoulder as he looked up at the ceiling. Under his hood, I could see wisps of blonde. "Well... you're not wrong... but you're not exactly right, either... how 'bout I just tell you the truth and we can move on from here? If you're anything like your brother, I'll just wind up pissing you off to the point you go into a blind rage and really try to hurt me."

My brother...?

He set his sword down on the ground, flinging his hoodie off of his head, which in turn, caused the bandages around his torso and head to unravel with it. I took a step back when a curtain of blood red hair suddenly sprung from its confines, coming to rest in its high messy ponytail behind the woman's head.

So yeah, Yamada was a woman... not creepy...

But what got to me the most were her ridiculously large boobs bursting out of the skimpy bikini top, almost without her realizing. Yamada looked down, before exhaling and fixing herself. "Huh... Maybe I do need to get those custom cups..."

"I'll say!"

I turned away, embarrassed and traumatized from having to see such an awkward display. Yamada grinned proudly, waving her hand at me. "Hey, hey, what're ya so embarrassed about? You're about the same size I was when I was your age. Ya never know, Ya might even get as big as me in a few years!"

My ears burned from her comment. I shook my head rapidly, praying my breasts would never grow again. "Um... no offense, but I'd rather they stay as they are now..." She shrugged, picking her sword back up and throwing it back over her shoulder.

"Now, let's see here... You're gonna wanna know who I really am before we get started... so first thing's first. My name is Kirigakure Shura, I'm eighteen years old~, I like shoujo manga, and-"

"I don't care about any of that! Answer my other questions!" My face burned with anger while she laughed heartily.

She placed her hands on her hips and grinned.

"Why don'cha force 'em outta me?"

She gestured to the sword in my hands, and I gripped it tightly. She swung her sword to the front, standing in a defensive position. Or, what I assumed was a defensive position. My hands suddenly started shaking, and I had to struggle to keep the sword up.

"I don't think it's really fair that I get a wooden sword while you have a real one."

She looked down at her sword and blinked. "Oh. I guess ya have a point there... If I go at ya with this, the fight will be over before it even gets started!" She held the sheath out ward and turned the katana on herself, so that the tip was brushing the tattoo around her bellybutton. She held her left hand over it, and murmured something, when there was a bright pink light, and her sword slowly disappeared into her stomach. I stared in wonder until it finally disappeared and I came to my senses.

She walked over to the sparring rack and pulled off a wooden sword, holding onto the handle with her left hand and tapping it against the palm of her right. "Hmm... with this it should be 'fair'. Ya gonna quit whining and come at me now?" I swallowed hard and took a nervous step forward.

Well what the hell, it was worth a try.

I charged at her, holding my sword off to the side. She took there grinning the entire time. What the hell, If she just stood there, she was gonna get hit! When I got close enough, I swung the sword, closing my eyes and praying that I hit her.

Suddenly something smashed into my stomach. The ceiling spun before my eyes, and my back met the concrete with a loud smack. I gagged and rolled over onto my knees, saliva trailing down my chin slowly. I wiped it away with my arm and looked around to see where my sword went.

Shura had taken the initiative. She side stepped me, slamming her own weapon into my stomach, and flipping me onto my back. Now she stood over me, grinning proudly. I reached over and grabbed the katana that was off to my right, swinging it around in time to block a hit from her. The vibrations from the shock reached my arms, and I loosened my grip on the sword, unable to block again as she swung for my ribs. I heard and audible crack coming from them, though I was unsure if they were broken or not.

I fell over again, grabbing my side and howling in pain. A dull throbbing tortured my right side. Shura bent into a crouching position and starred me down, almost as if she were disappointed. "Your supposed to be Masahiro's little sis, ain'tcha? He had a natural talent with a sword. He was, and still is one of the best knights of his day. Ya really are disappointing."

There she goes again, going on about him. I exhaled slowly, massaging my soon to be bruised side and blowing a strand of hair out of my eyes in defeat. "C'mon. Cut the crap already, will ya? My big brother? Using a sword? He's a complete idiot, and he's a lazy ass. That scrawny wimp couldn't fight if he put his all into it." Here's where she grinned, and her lids fell half way, caressing her violet irises in a loving manner.

"Hun, there's a whole 'nother side to Masa that he hasn't told even you, his precious little sister."

* * *

><p>"Mana-chan, I cleaned up your legs for you, so the dirt shouldn't sting anymore. I got you some ice too... please stop crying..."<p>

Fukunuma Masahiro was fifteen at the time, and it was the summer before he would be going away to an all-boys boarding school in Tokyo for high school. He had just hit puberty, so his deep, alluring voice still sounded strange to my childish ears. I still wasn't used to the fact that he was now the same height as daddy, at a staggering six feet tall. Even he wasn't used to his unusual height yet, so he had a tendency to trip over his own feet, and whack his head off of things. He was a total klutz, and such a goofball. Whenever I was sad or upset, he came running to me faster than even my parents, with a stupid grin and a stupid joke that would make me laugh stupidly and forget all of my stupid troubles... My stupid Masahiro.

As stupid as my big brother was, he seemed to be popular with girls. I couldn't exactly say that I blamed them though. When I was small, I would tell Masahiro and my parents that I wanted my future husband to be just like him, because he always came to my rescue, and he was handsome, like prince charming. With side swept chocolate locks and ivory skin, both inherited from mom, and dad's height and slightly muscular build, he was every girl's dream guy.

Masa would always call me his number one girl, and that he couldn't fathom the idea of loving any other girl but me. I used to love the idea as a kid, but when I got into middle school and realized that he had an obnoxious little sister complex, he completely freaked me out.

Though, at this point in time, I was five, and I was more than delighted to have my big brother obsess over me so much. I had been crying because a creature, which I now know as a hobgoblin, had shoved me off of the swing set while I was swinging high one afternoon when we were at the park. The result; I skid across the pavement on my knees, and I began screaming for him. He had helped me to clean up at a fountain, and even went as far as to put my hair up in pigtails, to distract me from my fall, and to make me 'a pigtail princess', because pigtails were his favorite on me.

While I sniffled and pouted on his nee, he wiped at my tears, smiling his sweet, gentile smile. "What happened up there? Did you try to jump? I told you before that just because you see the big kids doing it, doesn't mean you have to-"

"It was the uglies."

He knew immediately what I was talking about. Unlike my parents and the children around me, whenever I brought up the creatures, he wouldn't tell me to knock off my pranks or stop with the wild imaginations. When I was a child, on some level, I was sure that Masahiro believed me. Just the way he spoke about them, so calm and yet so wise, it felt sometimes as if he could see them too.

Masa frowned deeply for a split second, before tilting my chin up to look at him. He beamed brightly, a row of pearly whites glittering in the sunset. "Don't let those bullies get to you, okay? You are a brave girl, Mana-chan. If they pick on you, you've gotta tell them to back off. They get scared off when they sense courage."

I wiped my eyes with my fists and sniffed.

"Courage...?"

He stuttered for a moment, scratching the back of his head and starring off nervously. "E-Erm... well, maybe that wasn't the right word... well, courage is part of it, but the main thing is confidence! Well... What I'm trying to say is... If you don't let them scare you, they won't hurt you. They'll start to leave you alone. Why don't we give it a try...?" I nodded as he set me on my feet. I ignored the pain in my knees and looked around.

"Now. Do you see any uglies anywhere...?"

I scanned the trees and other various park equipment. But no avail.

"No... I don't see any..."

He chuckled and held me close to him, pointing out in the distance. "Look harder. Maybe there will be some further away."

I peered deeper into the woods, looking for a sign on movement. After a few moments, I saw a few of the uglies wander out from the trees, cackling squeakily. I took a step back, but Masa pushed me forward, causing me to stumble. I glared back at him, while he merely stared out ahead. "Go ahead. You saw one, didn't you? Now's your chance!"

It was Masahiro's stupid grin that urged me to nod my head, and approach those demons. It was Masahiro, who's sweet, gentle gaze gave me the courage to yell at those demons and scare them off. It was Masahiro who congratulated me and kissed my forehead, promising me sweets of all sorts as a reward, that I never got because mom said it would spoil my appetite for dinner.

How could someone so sweet and so gentle, someone who was so close to me, be so far from who I thought he was?

* * *

><p>"What exactly do you now about your brother, Mana?"<p>

t amazed me how Shura's cocky, street-smart vernacular suddenly took a three sixty as she took the wooden sword away from my face, and sat down Indian style across from me. I sat up, rubbing my stomach and wiping the saliva away from my chin as I stared skeptically at her.

"Well... what exactly are you looking for?"

Shura shrugged.

"Who is he? What is his back ground? What does he do for a living?"

I frowned, and glared at the ground.

"Masahiro is twenty-five... he will be turning twenty-six this June... So, that means he's nine years older than me..." I scratched my cheek awkwardly, wondering what else to say. "He was always gangly and goofy, and he had to stand out no matter what, otherwise people probably wouldn't give him the time of day, and that kid just lives for attention... When he was fifteen he was accepted into an all-boys boarding school. Believe me when I say it wasn't because of his grades, because he sucked when it came to school. He was always scrawny and a wimp, but he somehow was always good at sports. When he joined the baseball team, he was ensured a scholarship, so that got him in... he graduated, and went off to America to go to law school, which I guess thinking about it now doesn't make much sense considering his grades..."

He bit my lip, restraining the urge to scream out. I slowly turned to Shura, who grinned cheekily. "Toldja~."

I turned to face her, crossing my legs and gripping my knees tightly. "Okay, so what exactly do you know about him? How do you know Masa? And just what is your relationship with him...?

She tapped a finger against her plump lips, starring up towards the ceiling in thought.

"Well... I know lots of things... And contrary to what he may have told you, I met him at cram school. And as for our relationship... I suppose you could say..." She held up her pinky and smirked.

"...I'm his girl friend!"

* * *

><p><strong>Dun. Dun. DUN.<strong>


	12. The rewrite is up!

Hey guys, the rewrite for this story is now up as 'Momochi'. Please check it out. I promise this will be the last rewrite I do for this series.


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